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in your mouth! Bad smell = germs.) Since soaking my toothbrush in alcohol, my toothbrush hasn't smelled bad once.

PROBLEMS WITH OTHER 'SOLUTIONS'
Many fancy 'solutions' have been attempted: washing the toothbrush in a dishwasher, soaking it in mouthwash and most recently some fancy ultraviolet ray contraption has been invented. Frankly I would never use the latter because how do you know if it's working or not? Also, it doesn't address the crusty residue that's still buried in your bristles. Whether it's disinfected or not, the residue is still there. Most importantly though, it doesn't address what I call the "re-infection factor". The toothbrush gets re-infected all the time. As far as washing your toothbrush in a dishwasher goes, I've tried that and it ruined my toothbrush (it also doesn't address the re-infection factor). Soaking in mouthwash doesn't work for me; I believe the average mouthwash is simply not strong enough.

CONSTANTLY SOAKING IN ALCOHOL IS CRITICAL TO AVOID 'RE-INFECTION'
It's been well documented that dangerous ecoli bacteria are thrust into the bathroom air after you flush the toilet, and this re-infects the toothbrush. That sounds gross, so don't ignore it. If it's gross, think how much grosser it is to stick that in your mouth (i.e. because it gets on your toothbrush). You run the risk of re-infecting your toothbrush every time you flush, this is why constantly soaking your toothbrush in alcohol is critical.

YOU DON'T NEED A STUDY TO TELL YOU ALCOHOL WORKS - DO YOU REALLY NEED PROOF?!
As I said above, what I started doing is what dentists do with their instruments, I soak my toothbrush in isopropyl alcohol 24/7 and it hasn't smelled since(I use 70% isopropyl alcohol. Less than 70% doesn't seem to work for me, neither does mouthwash. When I tried those I started getting sick again. They're probably just not strong enough for me). I don't need a fancy study to tell me that alcohol kills germs (that would be a waste of my tax dollars.) It's just common sense. When I want to brush I simply rinse with hot water till the alcohol smell is gone, apply toothpaste and then brush. After brushing I rinse it off and put it back into the alcohol to soak. It couldn't be simpler.

DIRECTIONS ON PROPER SOAKING
You should immerse the toothbrush deep enough into the alcohol so that whatever part of the brush goes into your mouth is also being immersed in alcohol. If you soak just an inch of your brush in alcohol but are putting the toothbrush 2 or 3 inches deep into your mouth then you're still going to get germs.

I change or refresh the alcohol every 3 or 4 days or when it starts looking foggy. Using a cup to hold the alcohol works but you'd be better off using something smaller and narrower because then you'll need less alcohol. What I got was a toothpick holder. I emptied out the toothpicks, taped the container to my toothbrush holder (so it wouldn't fall over) and used that to soak my toothbrush. It doesn't take much alcohol to fill it up.

THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING
I have only been sick four or five times since January 2005 and that was because each of those times I had stopped soaking my toothbrush for a while due to traveling. It amazes me because I used to get sick every two or three weeks! I also haven't had a cavity in five years! My wife also soaks her toothbrush in alcohol now and hasn't been sick since.

Good luck!

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