Lick Your Wounds Away

Introduction

There are two types of wounds: closed wounds and open wounds. A closed wound is a wound that happens under the skin and may cause internal bleeding. An open wound is a wound where the skin is broken and foreign material can get into the wound. A wound such as this can be a scratch or a cut. An open wound can get infected where as a closed wound cannot.

When the skin is broken an open wound is formed. Wounds can sometimes get infected and the infection can get serious if not treated properly. Infections may result in death. Normally, the skin acts like a barrier and will keep bacteria, viruses, and germs from getting into your body.

When bacteria enters the body through an open wound, they will start multiplying quickly. A person can get infected as long as the wound stays open. When a wound occurs, a blood clot will develop. The blood clot will then form a scab which will eventually come off once the skin is repaired. This will stop any further bacteria from entering the body.

As you know, disinfectants are used to remove and kill foreign material and bacteria. Bandages are then used to prevent any more bacteria from entering the body.

Dogs use there saliva to clean open wounds. In my experiment, I am going to see if dog saliva will also disinfect a wound.

Purpose

The purpose of my project is to determine if dog saliva has better healing properties than using popular products like regular bandages and Betadine.

Hypothesis

I think using dog saliva will have better healing properties than using regular bandages or Betadine.

Apparatus

•  A dog and leash
•  Labels and a black marker
•  Petri dishes
•  Cotton sterile swab and tweezers
•  Tryptic soy agar
•  Ecoli bacillus subtillus bacterial culture
•  Regular bandages
•  Betadine
•  Camera

Method

Preparing The Petri Dishes

• Label the petri dishes:
• Control
• Bandage
• Betadine
• Dog Saliva
• On the outside of each petri dish, mark a 1x1 inch square area on the bottom of each dish.

1. Grow the bacteria in the petri dishes which have agar. For each dish, spread the bacteria mixture over the marked area with a sterile cotton swab.
2.  Place all dishes in a warm but not hot location. Let the bacteria grow for two days.
3.  Check all petri dishes to see if bacteria is growing. Then, take a photograph of each dish.
4.  Check each petri dish and record observations.
5.  Collect dog saliva using a sterile cotton swab. Swab its teeth and gums for 15 seconds.
6.  For the dog saliva dish, take the swab with dog saliva and rub it onto the marked area.
7.  For the bandage dish, place a regular bandage over the marked area.
8.  For the Betadine dish, place Betadine over the marked area.
9.  Keep one dish aside. This will be our control dish.
10.  Cover all dishes with lids and place in a shady location, about room temperature.
11.  After the Solution is Applied:
12.  Each day, observe and record changes in the bacteria. For each dish, observe and record changes in the marked area.
13.  After recording data, take a photograph of each dish.
14.  Observe and record changes in the bacteria for five consecutive days.

Conclusion

My hypothesis was partially correct. For each marked area the dog saliva did kill more bacteria than a regular bandage. However, the product Betadine killed about 35% of bacteria where as the dog saliva killed about 25% of the bacteria. Therefore, betadine killed more bacteria than dog saliva.

I learned if you have a cut or scratch, I would not recommend placing a bandage over the wound. in my experiment, I noticed that more bacteria grew on the bandage petri dish than any other dish. Therefore, you should always put Betadine first than a bandage over the your wound.

In addition, I learned that the best product to kill the most bacteria would be Betadine. However, Dog saliva could be a good substitute to clean a wound. .

To improve on my project next year, I would like to find out if the age of the dog or the type of breed would make a difference in the amount of bacteria killed.

Overall, I think the best and easiest method to clean a wound would be to use Betadine.