Dentist Edmond: You should throw away a toothbrush after the Flu

It’s true that once you’ve contracted a cold you won’t be able to reinfect yourself with the same strain of the disease, your body having developed the right antibodies to fight it off. However, it’s still a good idea to get rid of items that you use once you’ve overcome the illness. The Dentist Edmond recommends that you toss items like lip balm, toothbrushes, and some make-up like mascara once the illness has passed. Things that can commonly live in toothbrushes include the Flu, Staph infections, Strep throat, E-Coli, and yeast, all of those are excellent reasons to toss your brush once you start feeling better. The biggest reason for tossing these items is the potential for infecting others, one drop of saliva is enough to infect someone else that you live with.

Dentist Edmond: Never ever share brushes

The Dentist Edmond recommends that you never share toothbrushes with someone else. Another person’s toothbrush is just an avenue for germs to enter your body that they might not otherwise have and besides it’s just plain gross.

Bodycare products

We use lip balm in the winter month to keep our lips from becoming dry, cracked, and painful. Many lip balms carry some kind of antimicrobial chemicals in them in order to prevent the spread of disease. But even with these precautions in place, the safest way to prevent infection is to never share lip balms and makeup. Sharing in most cases is caring but in these cases your just providing an infection vector to your friends and family during the Flu season.

It’s not directly an issue regarding your oral health but make sure to change your towels and sheet, cleaning them with steam if you can. The Dentist Edmond hopes you make it through this Flu season healthy and happy and we look forward to seeing you all soon.