Keeping Your Amazing Tongue Clean And Healthy

TONGUES ARE REMARKABLE ENGINEERING WONDERS. They help us nourish ourselves and clean our teeth. They’re a vital part of our oral and whole body health. They’re also really handy when keeping your braces clean.

How do we keep our tongues clean and healthy?

Brush Your Tongue Daily

Your tongue hosts up to 10,000 taste buds. It also harbors billions of bacterium. That oral bacteria can contribute to tooth decay, gum disease, and bad breath. Brushing our teeth isn’t enough. We should be gently brushing our tongues every day while we’re in there!

Tongue Scrapers Can Be Helpful Too

Many patients find that tongue scrapers are more effective for them than simply brushing their tongues with their toothbrush. This can be really helpful in fighting bad breath too, which can be a big frustration for patients with braces. More details in this short video…

Tongue scrapers can reduce the presence of volatile sulfur compounds significantly (caused when amino acids and bacteria interact). Tongue scrapers can also help reduce build-up in the back of your throat caused by a sinus infections or allergies. Just be gentle when you scrape.

The Benefits Of Keeping Your Tongue Clean

• Some people believe that by reducing the amount of bacteria we swallow in our saliva all the time, we can stay healthier.
• A cleaner tongue can actually make food taste better!
• When your tongue is cleaner, your entire mouth—including teeth and gums—stays cleaner.
• It’s a great line of defense against bacteria-caused halitosis!

Give Your Tongue The Respect It Deserves!

We love being your complete oral health partner. Dental health not only requires caring for your teeth, but caring for your gums and tongue as well. If you have questions, please let us know.

Thanks for your trust in our practice.

Top image by Flickr user Benny Mazur used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Image cropped and modified from original.