The Importance of Handwashing

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By Jessica A. Rickert, DDS

December 28, 2024

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) highlights frequent hand hygiene as one of the most important acts in preventing disease. Hand hygiene includes washing and sanitizing hands. Let us review these recommendations about hand hygiene:

1. Whenever a messy chore is done, wash your hands, because dirt is visible on the hands.  But it is what we cannot see that is dangerous.

2. Germs are invisible.  Germs are microorganisms such as bacteria or viruses. 

3. Germs are everywhere. They are within and on our bodies and on every touchable surface.

4. Not all germs are bad. Good germs help to keep us healthy and to keep our immune system strong.  On our hands are good germs that live under the deeper layers of the skin, and most are not removed by washing with soap and water.

5. Our hands can also have transient, bad germs on the outermost layer that cause illnesses.

6.  Health experts recommend washing our hands with soap and clean, warm water for at least 20 seconds. Singing “Happy Birthday” twice equals 20 seconds.

Be sure to work up a good lather and clean the back of the hands, the wrists, between the fingers and under the nails.

Dry them using a clean towel or a hot air dryer.

7.  Using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer is another way to keep our hands clean.  60% alcohol is recommended.

8.  If neither soap nor sanitizers are available, follow the above steps with water and vigorous rubbing.

9. Let us model good behavior by washing our hands, because our children want to do what we do.  Wash babies’ hands and teach children to wash their hands after the bathroom and before eating.

Handwashing reminder signs increase frequency and length of handwashing. A cell-phone photo of our children washing their hands can be printed and posted near the sink.

So, we must take hand cleanliness seriously by remembering other healthy hand habits:

Learn to control your hands by not coughing or sneezing into hands. A typical human sneeze emits around 40,000 droplets, carrying germs from the mouth.  Sneeze or cough into your shoulder or into your elbow. 

Let’s not put our hands or fingers in your eyes, nose, ears, or mouth.

Germs can live on surfaces from three hours to seven days; germs survive less on dry surfaces. Germs live on shared surfaces such as door handles, counters, phones, remote controllers, keyboards, piano keys, ink pens, sports equipment, handling food, toys, and others’ hands.  Sometimes, we can handle these items with a tissue.  We can turn off water faucets & open many doors with our elbows; latch doors handles can be opened with the ring & pinky fingers of the nondominant hand, often the left fingers.  Small hand-sanitizers can fit in our pocket or purse, to use after touching items.

We learned from the COVID Pandemic that the Covid virus is less likely to spread when excellent hand hygiene is practiced.  According to the CDC, handwashing can prevent 1 in 3 diarrhea-related illnesses. And handwashing prevents 1 in 5 infections, including the flu, colds, pneumonia, and sore throats.

Worldwide, about 1.4 million children under age 5 die from diarrhea and pneumonia. Handwashing can stop many of these deaths.  Why not do what we can to help our children??

Dr. Jessica A. Rickert is a tribal citizen of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. A graduate of the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, in 1975, she became for the first female Native American dentist.

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