One of the most overlooked aspects of dental hygiene is adequately cleaning your tongue. The tongue is filled with crevices that trap bacteria and when they build up, it causes bad breath. Experts recently revealed that merely cleaning your teeth only reduces mouth odor by about 25%. By cleaning your tongue directly, you can reduce problems of bad breath by up to 75%. That’s a great reason to keep your tongue clean!
If you want to avoid bad breath, or rid yourself of a current bad breath problem caused by bacteria on your tongue, here’s how to thoroughly clean your tongue.Before we begin, you should get yourself a tongue cleaning device or tool, you can buy these from your dentist or orthodontist or from some good pharmacies or supermarkets. You can also use a toothbrush, and some toothbrushes feature a tongue scraper on the reverse side to the brush, but a purpose-made tongue cleaner will be much more effective.
When you have acquired your own tongue cleaner, then you should use it every day. Here’s how:
Using a strong anti-bacterial mouthwash, rinse your mouth out. Make sure that the mouthwash gets to all the parts of your mouth, but particularly around and under your tongue. This will help to cut down on the odor of any built up bacteria in the area.
After you’ve used the mouthwash, you can use a short piece of floss to give your tongue an initial scraping. Always start at the back and work forwards to the tip of your tongue. This is because the back of your tongue in the centre is where most bacteria gather. Use the floss a few times before moving onto the next stage.
Next pick up your toothbrush and squeeze out a tiny amount of toothpaste onto it – just enough to cover the bristles. Using circular motions, gently brush the tongue with your toothbrush. Don’t scrub, the tongue is a sensitive thing, you don’t want to damage it. Make sure that you get as far back on the tongue as you can. This may cause you to gag, but getting far back on the tongue will kill the bacteria that usually grow out of reach. After you’ve finished cleaning your tongue with your toothbrush, rinse your mouth out with a small amount of mouthwash again.
Now take your new tongue scraper and prepare to use it. Due to its design, it is shaped to pull germs and bacteria off the tongue. Stick your tongue into the hole in the scraper and move the scraper forward slowly. Each time you do this, rinse the scraper and then go back to scraping the tongue again. Don’t scrape too hard, the tongue should never feel sore after you’ve finished cleaning it with a scraper.
Finally, wash your mouth out with a glass of water to finish.
Don’t forget to wash your tongue scraper after using it and return it to somewhere clean and dry.
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