Is a dogs mouth cleaner than a humans mouth?

[Hawkeye]

Just recently, I got bitten by my dog. I was so mad i wanted to kill him, cause my pinky hurt like hell and blood was all over the place. Right after I went to Urgent Care Medical Center, waited there for about 30 minutes until a doctor looked at me, and started giving me all this medical mumbo jumbo crap, until it got to the point where she said that bacteria could infect my hand. This is were i started freakin out and stuff. Anyways, she prescribed me with some antibiotics and to clean my hand with some hydrogen peroxcide with water. Its better now

Anyways, I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and she said that a dogs mouth is cleaner than a humans. Naturally, I said, wtf? But it somewhat made sense... after all the stuff we put in our mouth, and the stuff a dog puts in his mouth... i dunno.

So what do you think? Is a dogs mouth cleaner than a humans?

[Maxico]

Hmm, let me check.

[Tigmafuzz]

no a dog's is way nastier. think about it. what exactly are they always licking? themselves. certain parts not to be mentioned, also.

[Yamaneko]

Would you rather be bitten by a dog or by a human? Well, neither of course, but if you had to choose, which would it be? According to a widespread notion, a dog bite is the better choice since a canine mouth is cleaner than a human mouth.

Is this true? Well, yes and no. When we talk about the cleanliness of a mouth, we're really talking about the amount and type of bacteria it contains. The kind of bacteria found in a human mouth and a dog mouth depend on what's been there recently. Unlike dogs, humans typically do not eat raw meat, garbage, and small animals in various states of decay. Given a dog that just locked its jaws around a decomposing squirrel, we might say that the dog's mouth is, for the moment, less clean than a human mouth that has not recently housed a dead squirrel. And since the squirrel-eating dog may pick up disease-causing bacteria from the dead animal, a bite from that dog may pass on dangerous germs.

But insofar as a clean mouth means one that is less likely to cause disease, consider that germs tend to be species specific. Harmful dog germs are usually harmless for humans, unless we're talking about rabies, a disease that affects dogs and people in equally damaging ways. But generally, humans are immune to most dog germs. Likewise, human germs probably won't harm a dog. But human germs can harm humans, of course. So a bite from a human mouth full of harmful bacteria may very well be more damaging than a dog bite, even if the dog's mouth is full of harmful dog germs.

[Maxico]

I checked. It doesn't seem dirty but it kinda tastes funny.

[Rye]

I heard dog salivia is good for healing wounds.

[T-MaN]

I'd say it depends. If a dog constantly brushes its teeth, then it is cleaner, but we do that every day as well, so I guess my final answer is a "Beats me."

[Big D]

Dogs sometimes chew their own faeces, frequently insert their snouts into each others' bottoms, and always use their tongues as personal hygeine tools.

Also, they never brush their teeth.

Let's face it... dogs are filthy. Letting a dog lick your mouth is one of the most disgusting things a person can do.

However, as Yams has quoted, the bacteria in human mouths are human-specific. Dogs carry dog-germs, people carry people-germs.

So basically... if your dog hasn't been munching on poo or filth or rotting meat, and hasn't been cleansing his groin with his tongue recently, then just maybe his saliva won't be quite so fetid.

However, since most dogs do all those unspeakable things on a regular basis, I'd say you're better off getting bitten by a human than by a dog.

[Halifax Housewife]

In Bio 12, my teacher taught me that a dog's saliva has stuff in it that helps clean wounds that humans have by killing the bacteria or something.

[nik0tine]

Human zombies have a much worse bite than that of a dog.

[Rainecloud]

I don't care whether or not the majority of the germs a dog has in its mouth cannot affect us. The fact remains: dogs smell, they're disgusting, they lick and sniff each other's backsides, and I hate them.

[The Redneck]

Actually, human bite wounds are fairly common. It's not that someone takes a good healthy chomp out of someone else so much--but when your fist meets up suddenly and dramatically with someone else's mouth there are hard semi-sharp things in there, so hospitals do treat quite a few wounds from human teeth. When they do, infection is usually a much more major concern than stitching up the knuckles.

Moreover, not only is a dog's saliva's pH different from that of a human, but humans eat sugar--a lot of sugar, and any biology student can tell you that if you want to make bacteria grow sugar is the best thing you can feed it.

Also dogs salivate copiously--to put it bluntly, they're constantly washing their own mouths out (This is why cat's mouths, on the other hand, are nasty. Also, cat-bites are puncture wounds, which not only are more likely to infect but are harder to clean, while dog-bites are usually lacerations).

However, as Big D mentioned, dogs' mouths often have different kinds of bacteria than humans', and the stuff that wouldn't affect you at all or might go so far as to put plaque on your teeth might make your dog very sick--and vice versa.

So if you're french-kissing your dog, you're probably going to be one sick SOB.

On the other hand, if you're french-kissing your dog, you're already one sick SOB...



And don't knock the 'licking themselves' thing. All of us would do the same if we could.

[Yamaneko]

Who said we can't?

[Blackmageboi]

i have been bitten by both dog and human and i think the dogs mouth was worse

[Big D]

[q=The Redneck]Also dogs salivate copiously--to put it bluntly, they're constantly washing their own mouths out (This is why cat's mouths, on the other hand, are nasty. Also, cat-bites are puncture wounds, which not only are more likely to infect but are harder to clean, while dog-bites are usually lacerations).
[/q]Ah, yes. Cats are truly formidable warriors in that regard. Rapier-like teeth and claws, all quite loaded with biological nasties. Since cats don't slobber as much as dogs, they're always loaded, even though they don't chew poo. Cats do, however, bury their faeces underground - which means their claws are full to the brim with dirt and dung. With these elements combined, you know exactly why cat-inflicted injuries always hurt like hell and swell up almost immediately.

You'd hardly believe such an innocent-looking creature could inflict such agony...