Effectiveness of Mouthwash Rinsing in Limiting Microbial Growth on Toothbrushes

It was hypothesized that rinsing a toothbrush in mouthwash after each use would reduce the amount of microbes that would grow on the toothbrush. Group 1 rinsed their toothbrushes in just water, and Group 2 rinsed their toothbrush in mouthwash after each use. Toothbrushes were collected and eluates were spread onto mannitol salt agars, eosin-methylene blue agars, blood agars, Sabouraud agars, and TYCSB agars and allowed to grow. Colony counts for all trials were converted to mean percent positives and mean percent positives \u3e10. The difference in percent positives and percent positives \u3e10 were statistically significant for p\u3e0.1 for the mannitol salt, eosin-methylene blue, blood, and TYCSB agars. Overall, Group 2 had less microbial growth than Group 1 which supports the hypothesis. There was an unexplained, drastic variance in colony counts for the Sabouraud agars for both groups and therefore the results were not statistically significant