Does anyone have bacterial proof that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's, or vise versa?

Question

My science fair project this year is titled 'Potty Mouths' and I am moving on to state. It was advized that I see other people's results so that I can create a report to go with my project. Any results would really help at this point. Also, if you know any sites where I could find information on this topic, that would be great as well. Thank you, as always!

Answer 1

The myth that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's mouth seems to have got it's start from a study of bite wounds. A study suggested that bite wounds from humans became infected more frequently than those from dogs and other animals.

Recent studies, however, have found those earlier conclusions to be completely false. If I may quote, "Human bites ... do not seem to have any higher risk than animal bites, which have an infection rate of about 10%." (link 1)

Of course, it's a little more complex than that. Many animals rather obviously lick just about everything in front of them, which hardly seems conducive to a clean mouth. The difference is that bacteria that are dangerous to humans are not necessarily the same ones that are dangerous to animals. This is why 'bird flu' and other illnesses that can leap from species to species are a big deal - these things are likely to be so completely different from the diseases that normally affect us that our immune system has a difficult time coping with them.

So on a bacterial count level, it seems pretty obvious that human mouths are cleaner... it's just that what happens to be there is probably more dangerous in the first place. Or, as another article puts it, "A dog's mouth is rich in bacteria, but only 15-20% of dog bites become infected." (link 3)

Answer 2

my daughter did that experiment and the truth is very surprising. Dogs do have a cleaner mouth. good luck :) research it under science experiments in any search engine. We have dogs and she did the experiment with 5 petry dishes.

Answer 3

in certainty that canines have micro organism of their mouths that's particular to their species. canine germs do not undertaking people and people germs do not impression canines is an undemanding thank you to declare it. There are few zoonoses, ailments that impression the two animals and people.

Answer 4

they tested it on Myth Busters (Discovery Channel), they proved that a dog's mouth is cleaner. go to http://www.discovery.com and search for mythbusters episodes, this should help.

Answer 5

Try these links:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=bacteria+in+a+dog%27s+mouth&spell=1