Comparative study of bacteriological examination of daily use toothbrushes stored in the bathroom and room

This study was carried out to investigate the presence of contaminating bacterial on regularly used toothbrush. Studies on the bacteriological quality of toothbrushes obtained from five student volunteers were carried out. The sample were coded as A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 for toothbrushes kept in the room and toothbrushes exposed in the bathroom respectively. A total of three (3) bacterial species were detected in the toothbrush, Mycobacterium spp, Streptococcus suis and Lactobacillus spp. The total heterotrophic plate count of bacterial isolates from toothbrush kept in the room ranges from 3.2 x 103 to 6.4 x 103 Cfu/ml while that of toothbrush stored in the bathroom ranges from 4.0 x 103 to 6.0 x 103 Cfu/ml Mycobacterium spp have the highest percentage of occurrence (70%) while Streptococcus suis and Lactobacillus spp has the lowest occurrence (15%). Some of the Micro-organism isolated is of public health significance. Good toothbrush hygiene is very important in the society to avoid the potential risk of infection and cross infection as good hygiene is an important factor in health.