National Smile Month Toothbrush Amnesty at Beechwood Dental, Boscombe, Bournemouth #nationalsmilemonth

Do you really want to share my toothbrush?

A SHOCKING number of Brits have admitted to sharing a toothbrush. Almost one in ten (9.7 per cent) said they had shared a toothbrush, and even more, said they would consider doing it if they needed to (11 per cent).

The research, conducted as part of National Smile Month,

discovered other oral health practices leave a lot to be desired. One in five people said they had used their finger to brush their teeth, one in ten said they had used something other than toothpaste to clean their teeth with and almost two in five said they had rinsed their mouth out with water instead of brushing their teeth.

Perhaps more surprisingly, one in seven still use household items such as business cards, credit cards and earrings to clean in-between their teeth.

Dr Nigel Carter OBE, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, explained why people should avoid cutting corners with their oral hygiene routine, particularly when it comes to sharing a toothbrush.

“Just because you kiss a partner or occasionally share a fork or spoon during mealtimes does not justify using their toothbrush too.

“This is because brushing sometimes causes the gums to bleed, which exposes everyone you share your toothbrush with to bloodstream diseases. Therefore, by sharing a toothbrush, couples are actually sharing blood, which is a lot riskier than just sharing saliva.

“There are many hundreds of different bacteria and viruses in our mouths and people sharing a toothbrush could be passing these on to others. While this might be something relatively harmless, such as a common cold or cold sore, if the person you are sharing with is infected with hepatitis B or HIV these could also be passed on via the toothbrush with life-threatening consequences.” Instead of sharing a toothbrush, Dr Carter offered some advice on how to maintain your toothbrush to get the very best out of it. “Perhaps it is considered an unnecessary expense but changing your toothbrush, or the head of an electric toothbrush is actually very cheap. Spending £8 a year on four toothbrushes is nothing compared to losing a day off work and spending large amounts of money on preventable dental work, unnecessary prescriptions or over the counter medicines due to poor oral

health.

”Enter Beechwood Dental’s, worst motley toothbrush competition and win a FREE ‘Everyday Smile Hygiene’ from Beechwood Dental’s new Polish and Go Hygiene service