When Brushing Your Teeth Backfires

We all know we should change our tooth brushes every 3 months, right? Or, immediately following a cold or illness, right? Or, if the bristles become slightly over used, right? Or, if a stranger breaks into your bathroom and helps himself to your toothbrush, right? You knew all that, didn't you? (In case you didn't, now you know.)

Anyway, I learned recently that even if you follow the above Toothbrush Rule, there still can be one more guideline that up until now has been unknown to mankind and has never been mentioned in toothbrush etiquette books. Reason Number Five To Replace Toothbrush Is:
Brown, stinky slime that adheres to the back of the toothbrush.

And when you find it, don't use the toothbrush like I did. Your mouth will taste the way a musty basement smells and it will take several days to feel clean again.

The best way I can find to stay up-to-date on the condition of your toothbrush is to avoid using toothpaste for random brushings on random days. Kinda like your smoke alarm battery... you don't wait until there's a fire to test out your smoke alarm battery, you just change that battery when you re-set your clocks. (the only thing DST is good for in my opinion.)

So, skip the paste for once tonight and just make sure your toothbrush is in good working order. If everything tastes good to you, resume normal brushing habits in the next day or two and hope that the slime doesn't appear between brushings.

On second thought, maybe you should just visually examine your toothbrush before you brush your teeth the next time. And if you see the brown gooey stuff, just throw the tooth brush out and don't try to taste it. I can assure you it is not a good thing to try.