A Comparison of Chemical, Radiation and Physical Techniques to Disinfect Used Toothbrushes Kaitlin Zurawski Bio 402: Senior Seminar Final Draft May 2, 2008 Table of Contents Abstract 3 Introduction 4-10 J. S. Weese and J. Rousseau (2006) 5 Warren et al. (2001) 5-6 Devine et al. (2001) 6-7 Sato et al. (2004) 8 Mehta et al. (2007) 8-9 Methods 10-13 Week 1: Positive/negative control 10-11 Week 2: 3% Hydrogen peroxide 11-12 Week 3: Dishwasher 12 Week 4: Ultraviolet light 12-13 Week 5: Listerine® mouthwash 13 Comparison Tests 14 Results 14-16 Discussion 16-18 Acknowledgements 18-19 Literature Cited 20-21 2 Abstract This study was performed to determine a specific method to easily remove bacteria that may be adhered to a previously used toothbrush. Appropriate dental hygiene is important in maintaining both good dental and systemic health as there are a great number of bacteria that are able to thrive in such a dark, warm and moist place. These bacteria are able to cause many problems, especially for oral health, for example dental caries, or other bacterial diseases. Once one has brushed their teeth, these bacteria can be found on the toothbrush. This produces the opportunity for these bacteria to be reintroduced into the body. Four different methods of removing bacteria from the toothbrush were studied; use of 2% hydrogen peroxide, UV light, a dishwasher cycle and Listerine®. Upon completion of this study, the method of putting the infected toothbrushes through a complete dishwasher cycle using generic dishwasher soap showed to be the most effective method as it removed 100% of the bacteria involved. 3 Introduction Appropriate dental hygiene is critical to maintaining both dental and systemic health. There are a great amount of bacteria that are able to thrive in such a dark, warm and moist place, which can cause many problems for dental health, for example dental caries. Dental caries develop when the structure of a tooth, or teeth is damaged. This occurs as bacteria present in the mouth convert food to acid. These both combined with saliva make a sticky substance called plaque. This plaque sticks to teeth and then can mineralize into tartar. Dental hygiene is not difficult to manage, but if incorrectly controlled tartar and plaque present on the teeth can build up and cause irritation to the gum tissues. This can lead to the development of dental caries, or cavities, as well as other disorders such as gingivitis and periodontitis (Colgate, 2007). The American Dental Association (2007) recommends that a person should brush their teeth at least twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, as well as dislocate the bacteria located in between teeth where the toothbrush cannot reach by flossing. Streptococcus mutans and Staphylococcus epidermidis are prevalent bacteria that can be found growing within the oral cavity. Streptococcus mutans initiates the caries development of smooth surfaces and fissures of crowns of teeth (Tanzer et al., 2001). Staphylococcus epidermidis can cause oral infections if not controlled (O’Gara et al., 2001). The common procedure used to remove these bacteria consists of brushing the teeth with a toothbrush. After use, a toothbrush is contaminated with the bacteria it is designed to remove, and when used again it may reintroduce the bacteria into the oral cavity. These bacteria grow in the dark, damp places of the mouth and therefore are able to grow in the damp place of the used toothbrush head in the dark bathroom. In 1920 a 4 dentist by the name of Dr. Cobb was concerned that toothbrushes, full of bacteria, was causing the continuously occurring infections in the mouths of his patients as he would frequently report that the mouth infection extended to the throat (Warren, et al., 2001; Sato, et al., 2004; Mehta, et al., 2007). Dr. Cobb suggested soaking the toothbrush in alcohol, as alcohol was a known bactericide, and the patient would recover. In order to reduce the possibility of infection, a technique should be devised that is easily accomplished to remove the bacteria from the toothbrush. Many studies have been conducted on contaminated meat, but according to Weese and Rousseau (2006), it has not yet been widely studied the potential of the bacteria remaining adhered to the food bowl after it is used, as well as after it is cleaned. They tested the persistence of Salmonella spp. on the bowl after specific cleaning activities which included; rinsing with warm water, rinsing and scrubbing, scrubbing with soap, soaking in bleach, in a dishwasher, and scrubbing along with soaking in bleach. The most efficient method was the bleach soak after scrubbing. Their dishwasher result was the second best of the different methods introduced with only 67% of the bacteria surviving or remaining (Weese and Rousseau, 2006). Due to their results, I tested this dishwasher method on infected toothbrushes to see how well it disinfects the brushes. The soap used and the high water temperature of the dishwasher should be able to kill most of the bacteria found on the toothbrush as seen in Weese and Rousseau’s study (2006). Warm, wet toothbrushes occupying the dark are viable environments to the bacteria that reside upon its bristles. Warren et al. (2001) decided to see if triclosancontaining toothpaste would aid in the inhibition of the microbial contaminants. 5 Triclosan is an antimicrobial agent used in the health field to disinfect instruments (Jones et al., 2000). It is bacteriostatic, which means it is able to inhibit bacterial growth against a wide range of both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Warren et al. (2001) chose to use anaerobic bacteria because of their ability to survive on the toothbrush and become reestablished within the oral cavity. They had twenty patients brush their teeth with no toothpaste, regular toothpaste or triclosan-containing toothpaste. In order to remove the bacteria and measure the amounts they placed the brushes in prereduced peptone-saline diluent and agitated the toothbrushes within to remove the bacteria. After plating and incubating they found that toothpaste in general reduced the residual microbial contamination of the toothbrushes, though it was not statistically significantly different between the two and thus they concluded that toothbrushes should regularly be replaced. This shows how perpetual bacteria are and the necessity of disinfecting a toothbrush before and/or after use. The results of their test showed that anaerobic bacteria survived even with the use of the triclosan-containing toothpaste. This suggests that persons susceptible to periodontal diseases need to regularly exchange their toothbrush for a new one or find a proper way to disinfect their toothbrush. This study further shows how there is a need to have a high quality way to dislocate the bacteria from a toothbrush in order to prevent contamination and infection. This is the reason I chose to test different methods of sanitizing toothbrushes using a common disinfectant. Cross-contamination due to contaminated instruments is a great concern in the health world. When toothbrushes are left out in the open within a bathroom, many bacteria can come in contact with the head and bristles, thus contaminating the toothbrush. Devine et al. (2001) were interested in a procedure of general 6 decontamination that is cost-effective and effective. Ultraviolet radiation has been shown to kill microbes and thus was studied by Devine et al. to test its reliability. They used a quartz beaker with mercury vapor located in the enclosed hollow walls of this beaker. The mercury vapor, when placed in a conventional microwave, transforms the microwaves into ultraviolet waves (Devine et al., 2001). This device is an older version, and I plan to use the newer version, for example the UV toothbrush sanitizer and holder presently available on the market. This is where one places their toothbrush within exposing the brush head to ultraviolet light and it is sanitized after a certain amount of time has passed. Devine et al. (2001) used many organisms, such as bacteria, yeast and viruses to evaluate the ultraviolet beaker’s ability to disinfect. They grew many strains of each and placed into the beaker and the beaker was placed in a commercial microwave from 15 to 120 seconds. They found the effectiveness depended upon the organism and the quantity of the ultraviolet light produced by the microwave. In order to kill more bacteria, more time within the microwave was needed. They found that the amount of bacteria was more drastically reduced due to ultraviolet waves from all directions as compared to when they removed the lid inhibiting ultraviolet waves through the top as well as the sides and bottom. Thus I arrived at the intention to test the efficacy of ultraviolet waves to disinfect a contaminated toothbrush. Their device was an older version, and I used a newer version, for example the UV toothbrush sanitizer and holder presently available on the market. I purchased and used an iTouchless UV-C ray toothbrush disinfector as a method to test efficient bactericide to compare to the other methods tested. 7 Sato et al. (2004) conducted a test to see if antimicrobial sprays would protect the toothbrush from oral bacteria. The first spray was made up of “cetylpyridinium chloride – CPC and basic formulation” which contained preservatives, a vehicle to transport the bacteria and distilled water to contain the bacteria. The second spray contained “basic formulation only” and the third was just water (Sato et al., 2004). For one week each subject utilized a toothbrush and a spray, which was applied after the toothbrush’s use. Each subject used one of the three sprays and then rotated sprays until each person used all three sprays. These toothbrushes were placed in Letheen broth and agitated to remove the bacteria. Phosphate buffered solution was then used to dilute the bacteria. The solution was plated and incubated at 37° Celsius for one to two days to see if bacteria were present and how effective each spray was, comparably. Colony forming units were counted and it was found that the two sprays containing the antimicrobial solutions helped to reduce the number of bacteria on the toothbrushes (Sato et al., 2004). The first spray had a 16-20% positive result for bacteria and the second spray had a 20-50% positive result for bacteria. The inactive solution, or water, had a 46-83% positive result. This helps in understanding that there are different ways to disinfect a toothbrush that may not result in completely eliminating bacteria, but it is useful in aiding in the prevention of oral disease. In a similar way I used an antibacterial solution of hydrogen peroxide to disinfect toothbrushes. Many bacteria are present on the open counter surface of the bathroom. These would include the bacteria left behind from previous oral care activities as well as bacteria from the aerosol when the toilet is flushed and the area of it residing in the moist conditions of the bathroom. Barker and Jones (2005) found that toilette aerosols are 8 spread throughout the area of the toilet after flushing occurs. A study proposed by Mehta et al. (2007) suggested covering the toothbrush head with a plastic casing, as indicated by some toothbrush companies, to prevent contamination. Mehta et al. also tested whether chlorhexidine or Listerine® would be effective in purifying toothbrushes. Students were used as subjects and participated in a study with three phases. During the first phase the student used the toothbrush in the usual habit of brushing and then leaving the brush out in the open space of the bathroom. For the second phase, the toothbrush was placed in the chlorhexidine or Listerine® for a half of a day after use. For the final phase the toothbrush had the cap placed on when not in use by the student (Mehta et al., 2007). The cap placed on the toothbrush only promoted growth of bacteria as it retained a moist environment in which bacteria flourish (Mehta et al., 2007). According to the results of the tests run by Mehta et al. the chlorhexidine as compared to the Listerine® was the more effective solution for decontaminating the used toothbrushes as it inhibited bacterial growth in three of the five tests (2007). Chlorhexidine is also practically harmless to people thus it would be the best option so far as a disinfectant. This study directly relates to my own as they used Listerine® in their test and I also tested it to see its effectiveness in decontamination as compared to the other options of ultraviolet light, hydrogen peroxide and a household dishwasher. Used toothbrushes are contaminated with the bacterial flora generated by the oral cavity as shown by the tests completed by Mehta et al., Sato et al., and Warren et al. In order to not reintroduce these bacteria into the mouth the next time one brushes, a method of disinfecting the toothbrush bristles/head should be designed. To simulate this process I infected toothbrushes with the bacteria Lactococcus lactis and let the brushes sit for an 9 hour inside the fume hood. The first disinfection test I used hydrogen peroxide and then tested it for bacteria. I performed the same test with a dishwasher, an ultraviolet light disinfector and finally Listerine® mouthwash. Because hydrogen peroxide is a strong bactericide I believe it is the best option for toothbrush disinfection. I hypothesize that household, low grade 3% hydrogen peroxide, which is commonly used as a disinfectant, will be most effective in decontaminating a used toothbrush as compared to ultraviolet light, a dishwasher, and finally, Listerine®. Methods Four different techniques of disinfection were tested on infected toothbrushes. These specific tests were chosen to simulate an easy-to-do process that can be done at home. A total of seven toothbrushes were used for each test. The toothbrush was exposed to Lactococcus lactis and then subjected to the appropriate disinfection method. Positive control The first test was to see how much of the bacteria would normally grow on the toothbrushes. This was the positive control in order to compare it to the different disinfection techniques conducted. I incubated a 250mL Erlenmeyer flask with Lactococcus lactis bacteria in nutrient broth at 37°C. L. lactis was chosen as it was available as well as it is similar to oral bacteria because it is from the same family as the Streptococcus spp. bacteria that are actually located within the oral cavity. It is in fact very useful as it is commonly used in the production of buttermilk and cheese. L. lactis is very relatable to humans, as according to Goyache et al. it is “more frequently found in human and animal infections.” This helps to show how it is closely related to my study. Seven toothbrushes, straight from the package, were dipped and lightly agitated in the 10 bacteria for approximately five seconds and then tapped against the inside glass to remove excess liquid and placed inside the fume hood to dry for one hour. In order to dislodge the bacteria, the toothbrush head was immersed in 10mL of a previously prepared sterile phosphate buffered solution (PBS) at an approximate pH of 6.5 within a sterile tube, similar to Mehta et al. (2007). It was then mechanically agitated using a vortexer for two minutes in order to release the bacteria into the solution. Ten serial ten-fold dilutions were then made in the sterile media; this helped to visualize distinct, single colonies that grew. Then 10μL of the solution were spread onto a nutrient agar plate (Mehta et al., 2007). The plates were incubated at 37°C to promote growth for three days (Warren et al., 2001). The plates were then examined to see if bacterial colonies were present and how many as well as how dense they were in order to understand the appropriate dilutions needed. The number of colonies was noted in turn to compare to the other tests. This was done for each toothbrush with the intention to compare to the next few weeks to determine which method is best to disinfect toothbrushes. Negative Control As a negative control I used seven toothbrushes that were not used to brush at all, directly from the package. This showed the difference between the bacteria present on an infected brush and the new brush. Test 1: H2O2 The first disinfection test I conducted was the method of dipping the toothbrush head into 10mL of the common household solution of 3% hydrogen peroxide for 10 minutes. Again I dislodged the remaining bacteria in the PBS solution with the agitator 11 and plated 10μL of the ten dilutions on the nutrient agar. I incubated it at 37°C for three days. The number of colonies was counted to see how much bacteria was thriving there. This entire method of removing, plating and examining was done with each toothbrush. Test 2: Dishwasher The next method of disinfection I tested was the dishwasher method; as the high temperature of water and the presence of soap sanitize very well. The approximate moving water temperature of 85°C and soap, according to Weese and Rousseau, (2006) should be able to kill or dislodge the bacteria present on the toothbrush. I used a GE QuietPower 1 dishwasher on the normal wash cycle with the settings at heated dry, hot wash and hot start, through one full cycle, which was timed at approximately two hours. Kirkland Signature™ Dishwasher detergent liquid gel was added to the detergent cup. The toothbrushes were carefully removed and placed in PBS solution which was again used to dislodge any remaining bacteria with a two-minute agitation. The ten ten-fold dilutions were made and then 10μL were plated on the nutrient agar. It was incubated at 37°C for one week. Observations were made, colonies were counted, and results were recorded. Test 3: UV Light The third method of disinfection tested was the method of ultra-violet light. A test conducted by Devine et al. (2001) showed that beakers that conduct ultraviolet light greatly reduce the bacteria present. I used the ultraviolet light created from a UV-C toothbrush sanitizer, which is a device specifically created to disinfect used toothbrushes. The model I used was the iTouchless UV Toothbrush Holder which was obtained online from Target.com. After being infected with L. lactis the toothbrush was placed within 12 the container and for the default time of seven minutes, the ultraviolet light acted upon the bacteria. The toothbrushes were put through the program a total of two times which is recommended by the company, so the toothbrushes were exposed to the ultraviolet light for a total of fourteen minutes. After the toothbrushes were treated with the sanitizer, I then agitated the brush heads in the PBS solution for two minutes in order to dislodge the remaining bacteria. Then the ten ten-fold dilutions made were used in the growth of the bacteria. I used 10μL of each dilution to plate on the nutrient agar. It was incubated at the temperature of 37°C for one week. I then counted the number of colonies to see how well the ultraviolet light killed the bacteria on the brush heads. I observed the plates to see if bacteria survived on the toothbrush heads. Test 4: Listerine® The next test explored the disinfecting potential of Listerine® mouthwash. After infecting the toothbrushes with L. lactis bacteria I placed and sanitized each of the toothbrush heads in 10mL of Listerine® mouthwash for ten minutes, similar to the hydrogen peroxide. They were each removed and placed into 10mL of PBS solution and then agitated for two minutes in order to remove the bacteria. Ten serial ten-fold dilutions were made. Then 10μL of the solution were spread onto a nutrient agar plate. The plates were incubated at 37°C for three days. They were then removed and studied. The colonies on the plate were counted to uncover the amount of bacteria present. Throughout the entire lab I recorded all of the information I determined and observed. 13 Comparison Tests The data recorded were tested for differences in the ability to disinfect and kill bacteria on the toothbrush head. A one-way ANOVA test aided in determining the differences and similarities between the four tests. A Tukey test was also performed to see if there was a statistically significant difference between them. I compared the primary week of no disinfection with each group; 3% hydrogen peroxide, the dishwasher method, the ultraviolet light, and the Listerine® mouthwash. I then tested each test to each other. This aids in understanding which method is better for disinfecting a toothbrush by comparing how much bacteria is left upon toothbrushes after their specific disinfection. Results In the first phase of the experiment, Lactococcus lactis was observed in great numbers on each of the seven positive control plates (Table 1). This shows how much bacteria was available on a toothbrush head when no disinfection occurred. The four methods of sterilizing the toothbrush heads after infecting them with L. lactis included: immersion of the toothbrush head in 0.2% hydrogen peroxide for 10 minutes, allowing the infected toothbrushes to go through a full dishwasher cycle, fourteen minutes of UV light, and the final test of soaking the toothbrushes in Listerine® mouthwash (Table 1). The negative control showed no growth on the new toothbrushes directly from the package. 14 Table 1. Number of colony forming units (cfu) after specific methods (* indicates the two UV light plates that grew lawns and could not be counted). Toothbrush 1 Toothbrush 2 Toothbrush 3 Toothbrush 4 Toothbrush 5 Toothbrush 6 Toothbrush 7 Positive control 1753 972 2615 333 1041 333 59 Negative control 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 H2O2 1 16 10 25 10 11 16 Dishwasher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 UV light 24 12 1 12 * 20 * Listerine® 12 11 9 12 5 1 1 Using raw data from the tests completed, the differences in treatments of eliminating bacteria were compared using a statistical one-way ANOVA test which shows a statistically significant difference between the positive control test and the four sterilization techniques (F=7.91, DF=4, P=0.0001). The Tukey test was conducted with a 95% confidence level. The graph shows these averages of the different tests (Figure 1). The error bars have a great magnitude as the inconsistency of the numbers from the CFU positive control give it a large variability. 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 pos itive c ontrol hydrogen perox ide dis hwas her uv light lis terine® Figure 1. Average number of colony forming units (cfu per 10µL of solution) on plates after inoculation of the Phosphate Buffered Solution with oral bacteria. Each bar represents the mean number of colony forming units after treatment based on seven toothbrushes. Error bars represent the standard deviation of the seven toothbrush averages. (The UV light test only has an average of 5 toothbrushes) 15 According to the same Tukey test, there is not a statistically significant difference between the four sterilization techniques with the same confidence level and P-value when the positive control is included. It also shows the pairwise comparisons which show the four tests all are statistically significantly similar (individual confidence level: 99.30%; P-value = 0.0001). However, another one-way ANOVA test was performed comparing the four disinfection tests to eachother which showed the treatments were statistically different (F=7.24, DF=3, P=0.001). The Tukey test showed the dishwasher method was significantly more effective at the 98.91% confidence level compared to the hydrogen peroxide and UV light treatments. However, the Listerine® method was not statistically significantly different from the dishwasher method (Figure 2). 25 CFU 20 15 10 5 0 hydrogen perox ide dis hwas her uv light lis terine® Figure 2. Comparison of the remaining bacteria on the toothbrushes after the four disinfection tests. Each bar represents the average cfu per 10µL of solution method tested based on the seven toothbrushes. Error bars represent one standard deviation of the the mean of the seven toothbrushes used. (The UV light test has an average of 5 toothbrushes). 16 Discussion The results of my experiment indicate that the toothbrush disinfection method of the dishwasher demonstrated to be far more effective than the predicted 3% hydrogen peroxide method, which according to J.B. Linger et al. (2001) hydrogen peroxide achieved the ADA goal of no more than 200 colony forming units of bacteria per milliliter when they tested its capability of disinfecting dental unit waterlines. In my test, the recovery of bacteria from the toothbrushes after cleaning them in the dishwasher was 0%. I expected to find that the hydrogen peroxide would be the most effective due to it is generally used as a disinfectant, but hydrogen peroxide was not as successful in eliminating bacteria as was predicted. This may be due to the great amount of surface area located on the bristles as well as the brush was stationary while in the hydrogen peroxide. A way to possibly improve my procedure would be to agitate the brush while in the solution so that it would potentially have had a greater amount of contact with the surfaces. More time than the proposed ten minutes within the solution also may increase the bacteria removal. Other possible changes could include a larger sample size like those used by Melita et al. (2007) or Warren et al. (2001) (10 and 20 respectively) to decrease the comparison errors. Other methods could be tested as well, such as using a microwave as it has the ability to effectively kill bacteria on food products and laboratory equipment (Culkin and Fung, 1975; Latimer and Matsen, 1977, as cited by Conder and Williams, 1983), or even boiling water, which uses high heat to kill bacteria. Each method of sterilization tested showed great reduction in the bacteria as compared to the total infection without any removal. As shown in Table 1, each test greatly reduced the amount of bacteria as compared to the positive control. The negative 17 control, which was not infected with any bacteria, grew nothing on the plates. This was desired as they came straight from the package and should not have had any time to gather any bacteria. The positive control had such a variability, which helped to cause the large error bar in Figure 1. The hydrogen peroxide also had a little bit of variability as the first brush only had one colony, but the rest were an average of about fourteen colonies. The dishwasher, from each and every toothbrush grew zero colonies. The ultraviolet light as well as the Listerine® also had variance in their colony numbers to give them their error bars. Figure 1 shows how the positive control had a statistically significant difference from the four tests showing that the methods were successful in removing bacteria. In that same test from Figure 1, it is shown that the four methods, when compared to each other, are not statistically significantly different. This indicates that each test is just as successful in eliminating bacteria as the others comparably. When trying to distinguish the four tests to each other, it is difficult, because the positive control dominates the graph and minimizes the other data. This is why I created the Figure 2 to show the tests in comparison to each other. When Figure 2 is studied, it can be devised that there are differences within the four tests when they are compared solely to each other. The figure suggests the dishwasher method as the best solution to disinfecting toothbrushes as it shows absolutely no bacterial growth. According to the Tukey test this method is not statistically significantly different from the method of Listerine®, thus these two tests, both, are highly effective in disinfecting the toothbrushes. The other two tests of hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet light are statistically significantly different from the dishwasher 18 test, even though they are not statistically significantly different from the Listerine®. This denotes the tests of Listerine® and the dishwasher to be the most successful. It seems that the ultraviolet light appears to be the least effective within the graph. This may be due to light waves not being able to effectively reach all of the bacteria located on the toothbrush or that the time the brushes were submitted needed to be extended. The importance of this study relates to the health risks due to the bacteria introduced to the body through the oral cavity. Bacteria from previous brushing would be adhered to the brush as well as bacteria from other sources such as the toilet flushing (Barker and Jones, 2005) or others’ near by coughs or sneezes. Bacteria located on the toothbrush can be reintroduced into the body where they can cause health problems. Toothbrushes that contain these bacteria should be disinfected. The dishwasher method was the most successful in removing the bacteria in this study and I recommend disinfecting toothbrushes using this technique. Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank Cheryl Guglielmo for her constant assistance in locating instruments and chemicals throughout my experiment. I would also like to thank Dr. Mary Jo Hartman in her fantastic attempt to help me obtain volunteers. Dr. Aaron Coby deserves thanks for loaning the bacteria to me. Dr. Margaret Olney also greatly contributed in answering my many questions and aiding me in procedures as well as always pointing me in the right direction. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to fellow Saint Martin’s students, Enjoli Washington and Shannon Davis for accompanying me during the after-school, late hours. 19 Literature Cited American Dental Association. [Internet]. 2007 [cited 2007 Oct 7]. Cleaning Your Teeth and Gums (Oral Hygiene). Available from http://www.ada.org/public/topics/ cleaning.asp Barker, J., Jones, M.V., 2005. The potential spread of infection caused by aerosol contamination of surfaces after flushing a domestic toilet. J. 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