Are You Supposed to be Brushing Your Tongue at Home?

When we think of dental hygiene, we often just think of brushing, flossing, and using the occasional mouthwash. However, did you know that scraping or brushing your tongue is just as important for having a healthy mouth? Here’s why you should add brushing your tongue to your daily routine and some effective ways of doing so. If you are looking for a dentist in downtown Los Angeles, look no further! Samaritan Dental is here for your general and cosmetic dentistry needs.

Why Brush Your Tongue?

Have you ever taken the time to feel your tongue? If you have, you’ve probably noticed that it’s full of tiny little bumps and troughs. Like your teeth, these troughs are a perfect spot for bacteria to collect. When bacteria collects here in these troughs, they end up being transferred to your teeth just by basic movement from eating or talking.

The result of this bacteria can be cavities, gingivitis, and bad breath. In fact, not brushing your tongue is one of the main causes of bad breath in the dental hygiene world. By brushing or scraping your tongue, you rid yourself of this bacteria and the potential of harming your teeth and overall dental hygiene.

Benefits of Brushing Your Tongue

Brushing your tongue with a toothbrush or scraping it with a proper tongue-scraping tool can improve your dental hygiene in a number of ways:

• Sense of Taste. Scraping your tongue twice a day can actually improve your sense of taste. All that build-up of bacteria prevents your taste-buds from being able to distinguish between flavors. Making sure that bacteria gets cleared away leaves room for flavor to affect your buds effectively!
• Gets Rid of Bad Breath. Brushing your tongue wipes away all that bacteria that’s building up in your mouth and causing bad breath. This can also improve your social skills, as most people try to avoid talking to those with bad breath.
• Improves Tooth Decay. The bacteria on your tongue also causes tooth decay. This is because it’s easily transferable from tongue to the tooth when talking or eating. If you’ve got a cavity problem, scraping your tongue may just be the thing you need!
• Appearance.  Another benefit of brushing your tongue is that it improves its appearance. When we have a build-up of bacteria on our tongue, it can make it appear white. This is quite alarming for some. Brushing your tongue will help restore your tongue to its rightful, natural color.

How To Brush Your Tongue

There are many ways to clean your tongue, but few that are most effective. Perhaps the most effective way is by using a special tongue scraper or the back of a toothbrush that already has a built-in exfoliating pad. With either tool, you’ll want to stick your tongue out of your mouth first and start at the back. If this causes you to gag, you may want to start in the middle of your tongue until you get used to the sensation.

Never, ever use the scraper from the tip of your tongue to the back. This only pushes the bacteria further into your mouth. After every scrape, you’ll want to wipe off any coating or debris on a cloth or rinse it off in the sink before proceeding. If you skip this step, you risk just putting the bacteria right back in your mouth. After you’ve scraped your whole tongue, wash the scraper with warm water and soap.

Brushing your tongue is an important part of your dental hygiene. To find out more about how you can improve your oral hygiene at home or set up a routine dental check-up, please visit Samaritan Dental or give us a call at 213-986-2933.