The question about whether a dog bite or human bite is worse would depend largely on where in the world you are. If you were in the developing world, rabies becomes a major factor and you would much rather be bitten by a human where rabies is much less likely. If you were in another part of the world, it would depend a lot on the site of the bite. Human bites in my experience are always much worse as they’re often on the face, genitalia, really bad parts of the body, so probably better to go for dog. But if you had an equivalent bite for the same size bite on let’s say your leg by a human or a dog, it’s probably much over muchness. Generally humans probably have a more diverse flora and larger number of different organisms. Dogs have a lower number of organisms. But either of their mouths would have hundreds of different bacteria in them of different types, and the ones that do the damage are really anaerobes. Dogs have a particular organism called Capnocytophaga canimorsus, which can – if it gets into your bloodstream, can give you very severe blood poisoning. And there’s a lot of talk about human bites being worse and dog bites. Probably slightly true, not much evidence to prove that. I would say, probably if I were to choose, I’d go for dog in the developed
About author
Peter Drews, D.D.S., M.A.G.D.
Dr. Peter Drews is a Master of the Academy of General Dentistry, past president of the Androscoggin Valley Dental Society, and past President of the Maine Dental Association. Practicing general and cosmetic dentistry in southern Maine, Dr. Drews professionally serves families and individuals of the Lewiston and Auburn Maine communities.