Tongue is the largest organ in the oral cavity and it has numerous papillae on it making a very rough and uneven surface. This anatomy of the tongue helps to harbour bacteria in it and simple oral rinsing cannot remove it. These bacteria then lead to cavities, gum problems and the volatile sulphur compound released by them are a significant factor in oral malodour. Hence maintenance of tongue health is as important as maintaining health of your teeth.
Even after brushing your teeth twice daily using correct brushing technique, some still suffer from oral malodour and other dental related problems like cavity in the teeth. The most common mistake is ignoring the tongue while carrying out daily oral hygiene measures.
The are different ways to clean you tongue such as using
- Tongue scrapers
- Tongue brushes
- Toothbrushes with tongue-cleaning capabilities
Most effective way is tongue scraping using a metal tongue scraper. The most effective method is to scrape your tongue from back to front eliminating build up debris and bacteria.
Many research literatures have shown that utilizing a tongue scraper twice a day noticeably decreased the concentration of bacteria, volatile sulphur compounds, that cause bad breath, in comparison to just tooth brushing.
Dietary Salt Intake and Tongue Cleaning
A study conducted to test if tongue cleaning increases the perceived intensity of salty taste, the results indicated that the salt taste intensity increased after removal of the tongue coating. This study indicates that tongue cleaning, may be an effective way to reduce excess salt intake.
Thick coating on the tongue can reduce you taste perception especially your salt taste by covering the taste buds.Tongue cleaning could help individuals adhere to the WHO recommendations on dietary salt intake.
Eventually by lowering the dietary salt intake this can help improve cardiovascular health.
Tongue scraping is an essential part of preventive care and hence increasing the awareness about importance of tongue cleaning is crucial for achieving better health and wellbeing.
MBH/PS