toothbrush contamination a review of the literature牙刷污染文献之回顾.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Nursing Research and Practice Volume 2012, Article ID 420630, 6 pages doi:10.1155/2012/420630 Review Article Toothbrush Contamination: A Review of the Literature Michelle R. Frazelle1 and Cindy L. Munro1, 2 1 School of Nursing, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1100 East Leigh Street, Richmond, VA 23298-0567, USA 2 School of Nursing, University of South Florida, 12901 Bruce B Downs Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33612, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Michelle R. Frazelle, frazellemr@ Received 18 August 2011; Accepted 18 October 2011 Academic Editor: Mary George Copyright © 2012 M. R. Frazelle and C. L. Munro. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Toothbrushes are commonly used in hospital settings and may harbor potentially harmful microorganisms. A peer-reviewed literature review was conducted to evaluate the cumulative state of knowledge related to toothbrush contamination and its possible role in disease transmission. A systematic review was conducted on adult human subjects through three distinct searches. The review resulted in seven experimental and three descriptive studies which identified multiple concepts related to toothbrush contamination to include contamination, methods for decontamination, storage, design, and environmental factors. The selected studies found that toothbrushes of healthy and oral diseased adults become contaminated with pathogenic bacteria from the dental plaque, design, environment, or a combination of factors. There are no studies that specifically examine toothbrush contamination and the role