On that topic... a very uneducated and reactive response I had was that I'd be horrified if my mouth carried more germs then say the floor in the local McDonalds

I myself never lick a dummy clean (mostly because if I don't want it in bubs mouth then I certainly don't want it in mine pmsl) and I've never chewed food and given it to DS either because again I wouldn't eat anything that had been chewed by someone else!! I never even stopped to consider the germ thing.