Effectiveness of Use of Ultraviolet Sanitizing Devices for Reduction of Bacterial Colonies on Toothbrushes

Abstract

The use of toothbrushes plays an important role in the spread of disease and increased risk of oral infections because toothbrushes can serve as a place for microorganisms, this can occur in healthy individuals, there is oral disease, and or who have systemic disease. The purpose of this research is to know the effectiveness of uses of ultraviolet sanitation equipment on the reduction of bacterial colony on toothbrush. The type of research is laboratory experimental with. Design: Pretest and Posttest Group Design. The sampling method used is purposive sampling. As a sample is student of faculty of dentistry of Hasanuddin University amounted to 11 people. Each selected sample was then given 2 toothbrushes and 2 new tubes of toothpaste for the initial and post-intervention phase. The respondent was instructed to brush twice daily, after breakfast and before bed, and to rinse the toothbrush under running water for 30 seconds after brushing. Subjects are instructed to store their toothbrushes in disposable cups provided for the participants and left to dry. Result: There were found 9 species of bacterial colonies either breeding with Sodium Agar or Mc.Conkey or most enterobacter colony species. The effectiveness of the use of UV tools for germ decontamination was found to have significant differences in the reduction of bacterial counts before and after the use of UV sanitation (p<0.001). Conclusion: The use of sanitary UV for bacterial decontamination of toothbrush can be considered to prevent bacterial contamination on toothbrush surface, as a whole it is found there is a difference of colony average reduction before and after intervention using Ultra violet sanitation.