Brushing your teeth regularly and using extra toothpaste could prevent coronavirus, expert claims

Washing our hands, social distancing and wearing face masks are simple steps we can take to help stop the spread of coronavirus - but an expert has revealed a strange new hack that could help too.

An oral hygiene expert has revealed that brushing teeth regularly with plenty of toothpaste could help in stopping you from spreading and catching the virus via viral particles in the saliva, thanks to the anti-bacterial properties of the minty stuff.

Professor Martin Addy, a dentistry professor at the University of Bristol, thinks that tooth brushing should be urged in the same way as hand washing in the fight against Covid-19.

He explains that toothpaste can clean our mouths in the same way soap and anti-bacterial hand sanitisers clean our hands to get rid of traces of the virus.

"Toothpaste contains the same detergents as those found in handwash gels recommended.

"The antimicrobial action of toothpaste in the mouth persists for three to five hours and, thereby, would reduce the viral load in saliva or infection by viruses entering the mouth," he told The Telegraph.

Advising that we should up our game when it comes to dental hygiene and brush twice a day plus every time we leave the house, Professor Addy added, "For the vast majority, the timing of tooth brushing should be focused when they are about to go out of their homes for exercise or shopping.

"Ideally, tooth brushing frequency should be increased."

So make sure you're squirting plenty of paste onto those bristles and giving your teeth a good scrub multiple times a day if you want to take an extra step to prevent the spread of coronavirus.