Tongue cleaning: why do it?
Did you know that your tongue has 4 times the amount of bacteria of any other surface in your mouth?
So is it worth cleaning your tongue daily?
A study conducted in 2013 published in the International Journal of Clinical Paediatric Dentistry looked into just this.
They found that tongue cleaning was effective in reducing the amount of bacteria in the mouth. Less bacteria means less chance of tooth decay, so tongue cleaning is definitely a great habit to get into if you want to reduce your tooth decay risk.
So how do you do it?
One simple method is to simply use your toothbrush to clean your tongue after you have finished cleaning your teeth. You can also buy purpose-built tongue cleaners or scrapers, like this one.
The good news is that the study found that it didn’t really matter which method you chose, as long as you cleaned your tongue daily, it reduced the amount of plaque in your mouth considerably.
Here’s how to clean your tongue properly with a tongue scraper:
- Place the tongue as far out of the mouth as possible and place the tongue scraper as far back as possible (comfortable enough to avoid gagging).
- Apply force on the scraper to flatten the tongue, making it conform to the surface of the tongue and pull the scraper forward slowly but firmly up to the tip of the tongue.
- Spit out the excess saliva and/ or debris that accumulate on the tongue and remove the debris from the tongue scraper by placing it under a stream of running water.
- Repeat the procedure five times.
Here’s how to clean your tongue properly with a toothbrush:
- Stick your tongue as far out of the mouth as possible. Place the brush as far back as possible on the tongue in the middle of your tongue (comfortable enough to avoid gagging) and give five firm forward and backward strokes (moving the brush till the tip of the tongue and back).
- Spit out the excess saliva and debris that accumulates on the tongue and clean the brush by placing it under a stream of running water.
- Repeat the procedure on either side of the middle of the tongue.
Tongue cleaning isn’t time consuming, but it could help reduce your chances of getting tooth decay! Try to make it a part of your nightly oral hygiene routine today!
