Tongue Scraping: What Are the Benefits?
Astoria Dental Group is proud to offer patients advice and tips on improving dental health. We feel that patient education is a cornerstone of comprehensive preventative and general dentistry. If we can help a patient have a healthier smile, they're less likely to experience serious issues that can affect their dental health down the road.
With that in mind, we'd like to take a look at tongue scraping. By using a tongue scraper, you can improve your oral hygiene, and it might even make comfort foods taste much, much better.
What Is a Tongue Scraper?
Sometimes referred to as a tongue cleaner, a tongue scraper is just what it sounds like: a dental care device that's designed specifically to scrape the surface of the tongue clean. The use of such dental care care implements can be traced all the way back to ancient India. The tongue cleaner can helpd enhance the overall cleanliness of a person's mouth.
How Do People Use Tongue Scrapers?
Using a tongue scraper is simple. The tongue scraper is placed at the back of the tongue. It is then pulled forward. In the process, the tongue scraper removes dead cells, food particles, and bacteria that may be on the tongue's surface. This process should be repeated until a person scrapes the entire surface of the tongue clean.
Removing unwanted materials from the tongue can have some major benefits to your overall dental health.
Tongue Scraping Helps Fight Bad Breath
Tongue scrapers have a reputation for helping improve a person's breath. It makes sense too. Oral bacteria causes bad breath when it feeds on food particles, and this can be exacerbated by dead cells in the mouth. By removing this unwanted matter from the tongue, that's fewer potential sources of bad breath.
Tongue Scraping Enhances Overall Cleanliness of the Mouth
In addition to fighting bad breath, tongue scraping also improves the overall cleanliness of the mouth. By brushing, flossing, and using a tongue scraper, you can remove a lot of the oral bacteria and food particles that may be in your mouth, hence lowering your risk of tooth decay and gum disease.
Tongue Scraping Is More Comfortable Than Tongue Brushing
If you brush your tongue clean with a toothbrush, you may notice occasional discomfort while doing so. Brushing your tongue can cause you to gag and can lead to excessive salivation as well. These are not issues with tongue scrapers, however. When using a tongue scraper, you can clean your tongue with minimal discomfort.
Tongue Scraping Can Improve the Taste of Food
The use of a tongue scraper may be able to improve the taste of your favorite foods. This makes a lot of sense. If you can clean the tongue, taking away food particles, dead cells, and other matter, that means your tongue is totally clean from anything that might affect the taste of another food item. Richer and purer flavors are more likely.
How Often Should I Scrape My Tongue?
It's a good idea to incorporate tongue scraping into your regular oral hygiene routine. Scrape your tongue at least twice a day after you have flossed and brushed your teeth. To really increase the cleanliness of your mouth and eliminate the most bacteria possible, consider using mouthwash after you have scraped your tongue.
Contact Astoria Dental Group
For more information about tongue scraping and other oral hygiene practices that can enhance your overall dental health and wellness, be sure to contact our advanced dental care center today. We look forward to your visit and discussing these matters in greater detail.
