An antimicrobial effect from silver-coated toothbrush heads.

Purpose: To examine the antimicrobial effect of silver-coated toothbrush heads in vitro.

Methods: Comparisons were made between 62 silver-coated and 62 non-coated toothbrush heads which were contaminated by different standardized microbial suspensions. The following microorganisms were investigated: Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sanguis, Actinomyces viscosus, Lactobacillus casei and Candida albicans.