Toothbrush cleanliness vs. CPAP equipment cleanliness.

We often discuss cleaning our CPAP equipment, and the growth of germs.

I got to thinking about other things we are exposed to. Consider your toothbrush.

Most of us use it one or more times a day.

Goo, food debris, bacteria from our mouth, saliva, etc. collect on the toothbrush. For many of us, there's even a little blood occasionally from our gums. Our gums probably shed dead tissue that ends up on our toothbrush. Presumably, if we have a cold, flu, sore throat, etc., the germs are now on our toothbrush.

Even if we do wash the toothbrush thoroughly after brushing, there are lots of places for the crud to hide. Take a good look at the space between the tufts of bristles on your toothbrush some time. I bet you'll find some toothpaste gunk there.

Between brushing, the toothbrush is moist for the rest of the day. Sitting uncovered in the air in the bathroom. With nice dank, dark crevices and surfaces for bacteria to grow or lurk on.

The next time we brush, we vigorously rub whatever gunk is on the toothbrush into our gums, sometimes even breaking the skin and drawing a little blood. We mix the gunk with water and swish it around our mouth. Even if we rinse well, there's probably some of the gunk left in our mouth, which will get swallowed, breathed, etc.

Now compare this with the germ spreading potential of CPAP machines. If our toothbrushes don't kill us all, how likely is it that germs in the CPAP are going to hurt us?

I know it's not exactly the same situation, but doesn't it seem that the toothbrush is a much more likely killer than the dirty CPAP machine?

Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to keep my CPAP equipment clean, but methinks we doth worry too much.

archangle wrote: methinks we doth worry too much.

I think archangle doth worry about his toothbrush too much.

Good point.

I'm still a newbie here but I've always thought along these same lines. I won't list my reasoning because there's probably far more people that will think I'm wrong but I agree with you on this.

Randy

That's where your wrong...

Your toothbrush is killing you, one stroke at a time, every day.

I was just chatting with my cat on this very subject. Do you realize that millions of bacteria are mixed together and due to survival of the fittest, the hybrid bacteria emerge. These have attitude and are determined to hold you accountable for their lot in life.

In 1498 the Chinese introduced the bristle toothbrush. In 1500 the emperor had those responsible for the toothbrush killed because he thought his life energy was being brushed away and his tooth was in pain. The toothbrush industry goes to great lengths to downplay the thousands of complaints that come up every year due to unnatural deaths caused by toothbrushes. The fact that you haven't heard of any of these goes to show you how well they are doing in covering all of this up.

Please join me in the Coalition Against Toothbrushes. As a CAT member you will need to set an example for others. It is important to clean your teeth, but that is what chew sticks, cardboard boxes, furniture, and apples are for.

For more information please send a donation to my CAT at meow-chew. biz. $10 is the purrrrfect amount.









This public service announcement has been brought to you by CAT and Listereney + mouthwash. It kills 99.999% of all germs in your mouth. With regular use it will reduce the profile of your teeth so you will have less places for the 0.0001% of the germs to gather.

The toothbrush mafia is going to hunt you down and kill you, hosecrusher. Be very afraid. They're in cahoots with the space aliens. They implant tracking devices in the handle for the space aliens. Haven't you noticed how toothbrush handles are getting more and more high tech and space agey these days?

You don't soak your toothbrush in warm soapy vinegar water every day between uses like I do? What a shame.

I think I would worry more about the cpap equipment if I flushed just a few feet away from it, with the lid up like some folks do near their toothbrush, and never think twice about it.

I confess it: I am a weekly toothbrush boiler. And after each use, the business end gets rinsed and then squirted with Listerine.

I started when I lived in a place without a safe tapwater supply, and the habits simply stuck.

Or just fill your humidifier with Vinegar and soak your toothbrush in it at the same time.

Nothing to do and looking for that brand new toothbrush feeling daily, without actually having to purchase a new one constantly. Try buying a bristle replacement kit from Amazon. It comes with hundreds of disposable bristles and special micro tweezers to reinsert the new bristles. It's hours of fun and also endorsed by OCD association.

The presidential candidate for Toothbrush Mafia supporters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFXXAuDK1Ao

The gunk from your toothbrush goes into your stomach and stomach acid kills it.....unless you are taking a proton pump inhibitor to get rid of stomach acid which might then cause the occasional gastro intestinal distress. The gunk from your cpap goes into your lungs.

Even with this knowledge I rarely clean my gear. Baby wipe the cushion, dump and swish tank a couple of times a month. Never clean hoses.

portiemom wrote:I think I would worry more about the cpap equipment if I flushed just a few feet away from it, with the lid up like some folks do near their toothbrush, and never think twice about it.

Which is why you should be hanging your hose and laying down your mask in the bathroom. Cuz it's such a sterile place.

aa - you don't blow dry your toothybrushy? Shame on you.

After noticing that my Swift FX pillows have a substantially longer usable life with casual baby-wiping
than with the daily cleaning regimen recommended by the manufacturer, et al;
I concluded the intensive cleaning was suggested for only two reasons:
1: to cover somebody's posterior (not mine)
2: to shorten the life of my equipment (making more money travel from my hand to theirs)

Save tome money and water! Putt your Corrado stuff in the toilet and swish it around with your toothbrush!