DH just used baby's dummy 'to see what it was like' aibu to be worried about germs?

[booklady1990]

I am just concerned that sterilising won't be enough is it better to just get another dummy?

are you usually so anxious 😬

It'll be fine! I used to clean DC dummy by giving it a suck.

Your DC will reach a point soon where everything will be going in their mouth and 99% of it won't be sterilised. My youngest DC used to purposely roll their dummy around the floor and then put it back in their mouth 🤢

Babies don't have the bacteria that causes tooth decay (streptococcus mutans) and the main way they get that bacteria is from parental saliva (cleaning dummy in mouth, sharing utensils and cups, possibly kisses on the mouth). This is something dentists in my country are very clear about and advise parents not to do these things so I am very surprised that a dentist doesn't know this.

Op - washing it is enough, don't worry!

Dental caries formation is multi- factorial. Dentists in my country don’t like to scare monger.
OP washing or sterilising the dummy will suffice. You don’t need to bin it

Hi op, washing and sterilising will be grand and baby will be fine. Its very likely baby will be exposed to many of the same germs as you and dh anyway. How old is your baby?

Also just to say I had bad post partum anxiety after the birth of my son. For me it manifested in awful intrusive thoughts and anxiety about going out and an irrational fear of sudden and extreme disasters and being away from ds was very uncomfortable for me. I hadn't heard this was a thing before until I spoke to my hv about it which was the best thing i could have done. So I'd just say if you're finding yourself anxious a lot, worrying more than others seem to about germs or other worries it could be that and speaking to your health visitor or gp would be the best course of action. Just because it's normal and common doesn't mean you need to live with it.

What do you think the point of sterilising is if it can't return the dummy to a clean state? If you're getting this stressed about it it's probably better to get rid of dummies altogether. Not worth it.

The human mouth is about as disgusting as it gets!

Kissing must be a real problem for you, if that's what you believe.

Streptococcus mutans is the main cause though and it's not scaremongering to inform people of how to delay that transfer for as long as possible. It's poor dentistry to not give accurate information to patients that help them avoid tooth decay as much as they possibly can.

Of course washing it is enough, just like washing cutlery is enough.

I'm guessing this is your first baby and they are still very young. Give it a few months and an adult sucking the dirt off will be the sterilisation. 😂

Re dental cavities, some people supposedly have higher levels of bacteria that cause cavities, but that follows that some people must have higher levels of the bacteria that protect against dental cavities. You haven't mentioned if your husband has unusually poor dental hygiene.

If you give your children a healthy diet and brush their teeth they will be fine.

Sorry @rollon22now , @Natsku has spoken, and your years of training are worthless in the face of someone on Mumsnet who has heard something from their dentist.

You'd better go and pop that degree certificate in the bin now, it's not needed anymore.

There has been a lot of research done on this subject including longitudinal studies into the effect of early colonisation of streptococcus mutans in infants which is why all dentists in my country recommend minimising the risk of early colonisation through good diet, teeth brushing, use of xylitol and avoiding transmitting saliva into your infant's mouth.

Are you suggesting that taking advice on tooth decay from your own dentist is a bad idea?

Just sterilise it and it will be fine.

Yep me too

Isn’t that just how you clean a dummy when your out and it been dropped ? 🫣

I would never put my child’s dummy in my mouth to ‘clean’ it. That’s really, really not clean. You can buy wipes for dummies that fall out or you could just wash them. But you really need to look at what sterilising is. Literally you are making it bacteria free. We do not as humans usually require such a level of clean for something that we put in our mouths but since babies are more vulnerable it’s just a reasonable thing to do. Washing in hot water and ensuring clean would suffice but to avoid the risk of oral thrush which would interfere with ability to feed it is recommended that they are sterilised but they are only sterile until they are taken out of the steriliser. Then they are just clean and that’s fine.

What?

Maybe Google ‘is tooth decay contagious’