Do you brush your teeth? It might save someone from Corona!

A study conducted by Colgate in partnership with Rutgers University’s Public Health Research Institute and Regional Biosafety Laboratories has shown that even toothpaste can help neutralize coronavirus with up to 99.9% efficacy.

Toothpaste containing zinc or stannous helps neutralize the virus by 99.9% if you brush your teeth for two complete minutes. The studies were performed using Colgate Total and Meridol toothpaste. Mouthwash even works faster taking only 30 seconds to kill up to 99.9% of the coronavirus. The mouthwash used in the study Colgate Plax, Colgate Total, and Colgate Zero.

Dr. David Alland, Chief of Infectious Diseases and Director of the Center for COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness, who led the Rutgers study along with colleagues Drs. Pradeep Kumar and Riccardo Russo said, “While we do not yet know the contribution of SARS CoV2 virus originating from the mouth to COVID-19 transmission, saliva certainly can contain amounts of virus that are comparable to that found in the nose and throat. This suggests that reducing virus in the mouth could help prevent transmission during the time that oral care products are active.”

This won’t save you from the virus but it can help significantly in reducing the spread of coronavirus especially from corona-positive patients since the virus spreads primarily by the droplets present inside your mouth and released into the air when someone breathes, coughs, sneezes or talks. If everyone does this regularly, the spread from asymptomatic individuals will also reduce significantly.

Image/News Source: Dentistry