We brush our teeth and floss regularly to get rid of bacteria that causes gum problems, tooth decay and bad breath. But what we don’t know is that this is not enough. We know that bacteria loves to hide in hard to reach areas like below the gumline or in our farthest molars. But they actually have another hiding place – our tongue. Dental professionals have known this for a long time but it is only recently that people became aware of the need to clean their tongues before after they brush their teeth.
There are many dental benefits if you clean your tongue. It can reduce your chance of developing bad breath, and discoloration of your tongue. People who smoke, always drink coffee and is not keen on keeping good oral hygiene develops brown tongue. And of course, they can prevent you from having cavities and gingivitis. Needless to say, you’ll never go wrong with cleaning your tongue.
There are several tongue-cleaning tools available. You can start with your toothbrush. Simply use it to brush your tongue after brushing your teeth. There’s also a new cleaning tool in the market – soft, flexible plastic strip. To use it, make a tie and pull along the tongue surface. Do this process three times. Some say it is more advisable to clean your tongue before brushing your teeth but a lot prefer cleaning their tongue after brushing the teeth to get rid of debris that came off from the teeth.
As we’ve said earlier, you can simply use your toothbrush. They may not be as good as tongue scrapers but they can also do the job of removing debris and bacteria from your mouthIf you’re interested to know more on how to effectively clean your tongue, talk to your dentist about it.
