Saliva germs

[RyRy]

If you don't brush your teeth for 24 hours and then you get saliva on something, for example, a pillow, what kind of harmful germs are you likely to spread? Is the danger of spreading germs through saliva higher than if you hadn't brushed your teeth in say 12-18 hours?

 

Thanks

[StringJunky]

Generally, unless the toothpaste is specifically antiseptic, you are just brushing the bacteria off your teeth and into suspension with the toothpaste and water to prevent plaque formation and you don't kill them all anyway. Mostly, you are spreading, if it happened, commensal bacteria that most people have anyway, like Lactobacillus mutans which inhabit the mouth; this one causes tooth decay under the right conditions. i don't think it's making a significant difference whether you do it once, twice a day or never... they are always there.

Edited April 6, 2017 by StringJunky