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Dog Tongues

dog tongues r cleaner than human and most other animal tongues

read about bacteria on a number of different websites, including the University of California's Museum of Paleontology and Wikipedia. I also read an article from the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology called "Dog, Cat, and Human Bites: A Review." Lastly, I read an article from the Journal of Clinical Microbiology called "Cultivable Oral Microbiota of Domestic Dogs."

What I learned from my bacteriology studies is that bacteria were first called "animalcules" by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek when he discovered them in 1676. Bacteria are single-celled organisms without a nucleus. Because they are so small, bacteria can only be observed with a microscope. These organisms are only a few micrometers long (a micrometer is 1/1000th of a millimeter). There are bacteria covering your skin, inside your body and many other places. Only about 1 percent of bacteria are harmful. Most bacteria are neither harmful nor helpful. For example, useful bacteria cover the inside surface of some of your organs, preventing harmful bacteria from infecting your organs. A lot of neutral bacteria are found in your digestive system, to prevent infection. Many bacteria help your immune system. However, some bacteria cause disease; many infectious diseases are spread by the sharing of saliva infected by harmful bacteria.

Some studies have found differences in the types of infections that happen after being bitten by a human or an animal. But this didn't tell me which bacteria are normally present. Being bitten in the hand by a human will cause infection for a human. Yet only 1 percent of emergency room visits are for infectious bites from dogs. This made me wonder if humans and dogs have significant differences in the type and amount of bacteria in their mouths.