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Who brushes teeth with bottled water?

Who brushes teeth with bottled water?

Old Dec 7, 2012, 6:36 am
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Who brushes teeth with bottled water?

Ie. in Vietnam?
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Old Dec 7, 2012, 3:25 pm
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call me paranoid but I do it wherever I travel, domestic included
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Old Dec 7, 2012, 4:28 pm
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It is a good idea in the Third World. Sounds like ricksi recommends it in Canada, too.
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Old Dec 13, 2012, 10:19 am
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I do it on airplanes everywhere.
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Old Dec 13, 2012, 11:14 am
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Not so much that I don't trust Canadian water as being good, it's more the cleaning practices of some hotel staff. We just had an investigation of cleanliness of hotel rooms and bathroom hygiene practices were shocking (even in high-end establishments).
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Old Dec 13, 2012, 11:17 am
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I hope you recycle the bottles.
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Old Jan 14, 2013, 9:13 am
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Even in Vietnam - which has a clean water supply AFAIK - I don't use bottled to brush my teeth. I am just a bit extra cautious about not swallowing the water.
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Old Jan 16, 2013, 4:54 pm
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I did it while living in Saudi Arabia and have done it on longer trips to Florida (only because I never think about it until I take my first sip of water and gag).
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Old Jan 30, 2013, 3:09 pm
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3rd World - Yes.
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Old Jan 30, 2013, 3:14 pm
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Definitely in China and Russia, where I'm also careful to rinse the toothbrush using bottled water and to avoid getting shower water around my mouth to avoid swallowing a little bit of it. Also in most of the third world, even in top hotels that claim to have safe purified water. (I also reject all ice cubes.)

Not in most of Western Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, etc. I drink bottled water at home because of the taste, but like the tap in many places.
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Old Feb 2, 2013, 10:50 am
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When I was in Cuba, I brushed my teeth and rinsed my toothbrush with bottled water, and I was glad that I did.

For much of the time, I was eating in tourist-oriented restaurants in central Havana, but our group's farewell dinner was in a less upscale restaurant, and I ordered a mojito.

Evidently, the central restaurants made their ice with purified water and this last place didn't. The woman who sat next to me ordered the same food that I did but had beer as her beverage.

I got sick (sudden onset vomiting for 24 hours), and she didn't.

Lesson learned.

In China, I was scrupulous about avoiding tap water after learning (before the trip) that Chinese people don't drink unboiled water. We mostly stayed at school dormitories, and every morning, we'd receive a thermos of boiling hot water. We took to pouring some off into the covered teacups that were in the rooms and then using the cooled water in the evening to brush our teeth.

In Western Europe and Japan I don't worry about the tap water.
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Old Feb 9, 2013, 12:51 am
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Originally Posted by JCary
I hope you recycle the bottles.
That's what I thought when I read the title!
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Old Feb 9, 2013, 5:52 pm
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I think it would be mad not to use bottled of purified water in a 2nd or 3rd world country.
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Old Feb 16, 2013, 9:49 pm
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Interesting, I was just talking about this with some colleagues.

I guess it just never occurred to me to do this - I've been brushing my teeth with tap water throughout the world for years in countries many would consider suspect (e.g., India, China, Thailand, Indonesia). Perhaps I am lucky, perhaps it is due to staying in Western quality (typically US based chain) hotels, but I have never gotten sick. I, of course, do not drink the tap water.

I'm actually more concerned about the tap water on planes and refuse to brush using that.
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Old Feb 18, 2013, 10:06 pm
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Hmm...thinking back, I think rural India has been the only place where I've brushed with filtered water. (The "motel" I was at had a water filter/purifier on each floor, so I'd fill my big Nalgene bottle and use it for drinking and brushing after meals.)
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