Is a dogs mouth and tongue cleaner than a humans mouth?
Dog-lovers who like to kiss their dogs and otherwise allow their dogs to lick them have always defended themselves by saying a dog’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s mouth. This is a long-standing myth that was propagated by a faulty study several decades ago. The study claimed that human bites have a higher rate of infection in other humans than do dog bites. In 1988, the faults in the study were pointed out by a series of counter-studies. The original study was lambasted for not using human bites at all. They used closed-fist injuries to the hand by tooth or jaw. In layman’s terms, they used people who had cuts on their hands from punching someone in the face. It was also found that most of the human “bite” injuries were not reported right away and had developed infections from other sources. In the case of dog vs. human bites, common sense plays out. Dogs use their tongues as both a wash cloth and toilet paper. They purposefully take their body’s dirt into their mouths. Dogs are also
