Re: Toothbrush sanitizer

I've never "sanitized" my tooth brush. Just rinsing the tooth paste foam off
should be enough. The germs in the mouth are some of the most beneficial
ones in your body. Does it really matter to kill them off by sanitizing your
tooth brush?  This whole idea plays to the public's fear of all germs and it
leads to unnecessary efforts to clean or even sterilize the environment.

And, no, the UV light doesn't have to be in direct contact with the
organism, but it does have to be in "line of sight", and distance from the
source to the target is extremely important.

John Gentile MS M(ASCP)                     [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Laboratory Information, QA Manager
VA Medical Center
Providence, RI

The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any
position of the Government or VA.


in article [EMAIL PROTECTED], Martin Lynch at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 11/29/03 6:10 PM:

> Hello,
> 
> Just finishing up a class in microbio, and found it interesting
> in reading the materials about "microbial control".
> 
> Three of the methods that I found a particular interest
> in are the use of ozone, UV, and pressurized steam (e.g. autoclave).
> 
> Now, I see these toothbrush sterilizers on the market, and
> I've come across different companies that use one of these
> three methods, each claiming to be the best method.
> 
> What are your thoughts on which type of toothbrush sterilizer
> would be best?
> 
> My thought is that UV would be the worst, because, if I recall,
> the drawback is that the UV must come in direct contact with
> the germs, and on a brush, the germs will be hidden by the
> crevices and by organic matter.
> 
> Which leads me to believe either ozone or steam would be the
> best method.  With ozone, of course there is the danger to
> someone who doesn't realize that it is dangerous to breath.
> With steam, the messiness and the inconvenience of not knowing
> whether the aparatus has reached the proper temperature to
> sterilize.
> 
> What do you guys think?  By the way, at what temperature does
> an autoclave need to steam in order to sterilize?  I've seen
> toothbrush sterilizers that do not look like they are pressurized,
> so I'm guessing that they operate at about 120 deg C (at 1 atm).
> 
> Discuss...

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