QuickCheck: Do you have to change your toothbrush after recovering from Covid-19?

A VIDEO saying that you risk reinfection or infecting others if you do not change your toothbrush after recovering from Covid-19 has gone viral on Facebook and WhatsApp.

Is this true?

Verdict:

TRUE

In January 2021, a study was published Journal of Infectious Diseases by Brazilian researchers studying the impact of oral hygiene on Covid-19 transmission.

One of the recommendations from the study was that disinfecting toothbrushes should be part of oral hygiene as it would help in mitigating infections.

This was because toothbrushes "act as reservoirs for microorganisms" and could easily spread diseases to other people or even cause a reinfection.

These recommendations, the researchers said, were applicable especially to asymptomatic Covid-19 cases.

According to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the SARS-CoV-2 virus can survive for up to three days on common non-porous surfaces.

So that means there might be viable virus particles on your toothbrush after you've recovered, even more so if you are sharing a toothbrush holder with someone else.

While the likelihood of reinfection is low, especially if you are vaccinated it's better to be safe than sorry and swap your toothbrush.

Furthermore, if you do get reinfected there's a higher chance of you being non-symptomatic thus you might end up unknowingly spreading the disease.

References:

1. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/surface-transmission.html

2. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/reinfection.html

3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7272817/