Is a Dog's Mouth Cleaner than a Human's?

5 ANSWERS

1. Aalia
   

   The way I heard it when I was a kid was that a dog's mouth is actually "sterile."
   I believed what I was told at the time in spite of the contradictory evidence at hand — namely that people often become quite ill and even die after being bitten by a dog. If a dog's mouth is sterile, how could it transmit rabies, tetanus, pasteurella or any of the other types of infection associated with dog bites?
   So, where did the notion that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's come from? Doctors, evidently. It has long been noted in the medical literature that human bites are more likely to become infected than those of other mammals, including dogs. Statistics to that effect were published in journals and repeated by medical professionals, and folk wisdom took off from there.

   Report (0) (0)  |   12 years, 7 month(s) ago  

2. Guest1510
   

   Here's the deal.  My 6th grade son is in the process of finishing this Science Fair Project.   He did "Whose Mouth is Cleaner?  A Dog's, A Cat's or a Human's."  We ordered sterile Petri dishes and did a Control, then swabbed our cat's mouth, a dog's mouth and then a family member's mouth.  The first Petri dish that we used for the human, did not grow ANYTHING, but the person had just brushed their teeth, tonque and also used anti-bacterial mouthwash.  We decided to try again just mid-day.  The person brushed their teeth that morning like normal and then sometime that afternoon, we swabbed them again.  That Petri dish did show a little bacteria, but not much at all.  The cat's was the worst, but the dog's was a VERY close second.  It was disgusting.  Even though we thought we had them sealed very well, they were extremely stinky. We ended up having to take photos of them and then get rid of them because I was afraid that we would have to call disease control if we waited much longer. ;-)  
   
   Anyway, I am just curious as to where to get research other than the experiment we did that shows that a dog's mouth really ISN'T cleaner, because now, we know it is not!

   Report (0) (0)  |   12 years, 7 month(s) ago  

3. Merlyn
   

   oh wow.. thankyou for that information.. the experiment really does give a clear view of it all.. lol..

   Report (0) (0)  |   12 years, 7 month(s) ago  

4. Guest185
   

   they say that kissing a human is wores then kissing a dog scary huh

   Report (0) (0)  |   12 years, 8 month(s) ago  

5. Guest5022
   

   <p>they say that kissing a human is wores then kissing a dog scary huh and im doing a project on it 2 and i think it will be easy cuz everybody says tat a dogs mouth is vleaner then a human

   Report (0) (0)  |   12 years, 8 month(s) ago