Contamination of Interdental Brushes and Dental Floss with Oral Bacteria

Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare the contamination levels of interdental brush and dental floss and also to investigate the viable bacteria on interdental brushes after 24 hours. Material and Methods: Two separate interdental spaces were chosen from 10 patients with chronic periodontitis for the contamination level investigation and five patients for bacterial persistency. After cleaning, interdental brush and dental floss were cut from surfaces that contact the interdental sulcus and were evaluated in terms of total, facultative, obligatory and black pigmented anaerobic bacteria counts. Results: There was no difference between interdental brush and dental floss regarding to the numbers of bacteria. Prevotella intermedia sensu lato was detected from 75% of the brushes after 24 h, which black pigmented anaerobic rods were detected in subgingival plaque samples (n=4) taken from the same regions. Conclusion: In this research, interdental brush and dental floss are contaminated by subgingival microbiota at similar levels and oral bacteria remained on interdental brushes for 24 h. For this reason both cleaning tools can act as a risk factor about spreading bacteria inside the oral cavity.