Int J Oral Biol.  2014 Dec;39(4):215-220. 10.11620/IJOB.2014.39.4.215.

Molecular Identification of Bacterial Species Present on Toothbrushes

• Kwon YW
• Lee SY

• KMID: 2170790
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.11620/IJOB.2014.39.4.215

Abstract

Toothbrushes play an essential role in oral hygiene. However, they can be significant in microbial transmission and can increase the risk of infection, since they can serve as a reservoir for microorganisms in healthy, oral-diseased and medically ill adults. This study was conducted to evaluate toothbrush contamination in six toothbrushes donated from four people. Two participants each supplied two toothbrushes - one used in the bathroom and one used in the workplace. The other two people each donated two toothbrushes used in the workplace. Polymerase chain reaction was used to construct a 16S rRNA clone library. Sequences of cloned DNA were compared with those from the reference organisms provided by GenBank. A total 120 clones, representing 20 clones for each toothbrush, were analyzed. They are composed of six pylum, 46 genera and 79 species. The most dominant species were Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus parasanguinis and Haemophilus parainfluenzae. Enterobacter and Escherichia were recovered from toothbrushes used domestically. Toothbrushes used in the workplace did not contain Enterobacteria.

Keyword

toothbrush; bacteria; contamination

MeSH Terms

Adult
Bacteria
Clone Cells
Databases, Nucleic Acid
DNA
Enterobacter
Enterobacteriaceae
Escherichia
Haemophilus parainfluenzae
Humans
Oral Hygiene
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Streptococcus
Streptococcus oralis
DNA