Brushing my teeth at work giving me mouth sores

[Jamthenurse]

I have to ask, and it's a little gross. I can't work a 12 hour shift and have lunch, coffee, etc without brushing my teeth a few times (some of my peers who work closely with people have dragon breath btw). So I use the staff bathroom. I rinse my toothbrush in the sink. And I get cold sores in my mouth. Once or twice I've caught colds and I suspect the sink for that as well. I'm guessing the spout is a disgusting tube full of spit and germs and whatever has rubbed off people's hands. Of course it is.

So what choice is there? I used to sterilize my toothbrush is the microwave and that just made everyone else PO'ed when they'd see me doing it. So am I the only nurse who brushes teeth? Is there an alternative that doesn't involve me getting canker sores? What do some of you do?

[hikernurse]

Medela makes microwave bags to steam sterilize breast pump parts

Thanks, Colleen. I'm sure my breastfeeding ability is down to powdered milk now, lol, and I don't keep up with all the fancy new stuff .