Mutans streptococci remained viable on toothbrush bristles, in vivo, for 44 h. Issue 5 (21st November 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Da Silva, Lea Assed Bezerra; Nelson‐Filho, Paulo; Saravia, Marta Estela; De Rossi, Andiara; Lucisano, Marília Pacífico; Da Silva, Raquel Assed Bezerra
• Is Part Of: International journal of paediatric dentistry. Volume 24:Issue 5(2014:Sep.)
• Page Start: 367
• Page End: 372
• Publication Date: 2013-11-21
• Subjects: Pedodontics -- Periodicals; 617.645
• DOI: 10.1111/ipd.12079
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-7439

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="ipd12079-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="ipd12079-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>Toothbrushes harbor a high number of cariogenic microorganisms.</p> </sec> <sec id="ipd12079-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Aim</title> <p>To investigate the viability of mutans streptococci (MS) on toothbrushes bristles and the production of extracellular polysaccharide (ECP) related to drying time.</p> </sec> <sec id="ipd12079-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Design</title> <p>Twenty children were submitted to brushing without dentifrice. Toothbrushes were kept at room temperature from 0 to 48 h and then submitted to microbiological processing. The number of MS colonies/biofilms was expressed according to scores: 0 = no colonies were detected; 1 = 1 to 50; 2 = 51 to 100; 3 = over 100. The amount of ECP was evaluated according to scores: 0 = absence; 1 = ECP recovering until 50% of the surface; 2 = ECP recovering more than 50% of the surface. Data were analyzed by Wilcoxon test (<italic>α</italic> = 5%).</p> </sec> <sec id="ipd12079-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>At the periods of 0 to 16 h, the toothbrushes had intense bacterial contamination (score 3). From the 18‐h, there was a statistically significant decrease in the M<italic>S</italic> viability (<italic>P</italic> = 0.0078), with predominance of score 1 on periods of 20 to 44 h. The most detected ECP amount was at 0‐ and 12‐h period (<italic>P</italic> < 0.05) with reduction until 32‐h period.</p> </sec> <sec id="ipd12079-sec-0005" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Mutans streptococci remained viable on toothbrushes bristles, <italic>in vivo</italic>, for 44 h.</p> </sec> </abstract>