FACT – Dogs’ mouths are as clean as humans’, which means, they aren’t! Dogs’ mouths are found to be host to an entirely different microbiome…the bacteria therein are different from the humans’, but doubtlessly, dogs have a greater number of bacteria in their mouths, however, and that they sometimes lick or eat some pretty rancid things, driven by their olfactory sense! We have all observed our dog eating something absolutely disgusting from time to time, which eventually putrefies and contributes to the multiplication of disease-causing bacteria, especially since, unlike their human counterparts, a daily dental hygiene programme isn’t part of their regime.
The unique bacteria living in your dog’s mouth, coupled with the various bacteria-ridden things your dog may consume, ensure that your dog’s mouth can be a source of disease-causing germs. This is even truer for street dogs who unfortunately regularly consume remains off the street or from garbage bins. A lack of regular dental care is likely to cause all sorts of health issues, including periodontal disease, halitosis, and tooth decay.
However, since the microbiome is completely different, generally dogs’ bacteria isn’t known to transmit easily to humans and cause disease, though the occasional case of that has been documented, especially if the animal’s saliva, with a host of possible pathogens, comes in contact with an open wound. Unfortunately, in the eventuality that such contact occurs, the consequences can be deadly, since our immune systems, completely unfamiliar with this new strain of bacteria, will have no defence against it.
A single lick can deposit untold millions of these unfamiliar bacteria, which remain on human skin till hours afterward, according to Floyd Dewhirst, a bacterial geneticist at the Forsyth Institute and professor of oral medicine at Harvard. When studying the skin microbiome of humans, scientists were surprised to find several people with patches of skin covered in dog bacteria. “So, if you’re licked by a dog, and someone were to take a Q-tip five hours later and rub that spot, they could recover over 50 different species of dog-mouth bacteria,” he says. And though there are several antimicrobial properties in canine saliva, probably the source of the myth that their licking a wound can heal it, but that applies only to a species licking itself rather than the other, the presence of the disease-causing bacteria far outweighs the therapeutic properties of these anti-microbial agents. So next time you’re tempted to allow your pet to lick your face, DON’T!
