When it comes to cleaning the mouth and teeth, only brushing the teeth comes to mind. However, brushing teeth alone is not enough for oral hygiene. Brushing the teeth, using dental floss and at the same time cleaning the tongue are essential to ensure oral hygiene. In this way, harmful bacteria can be effectively removed from the mouth.
What is the Importance of Tongue Cleaning?
Tongue cleaning is as important as brushing teeth. However, it is neglected by many and its necessity is unknown.
If the tongue is not cleaned regularly, it causes some health problems. These problems are as follows:
- Not cleaning the tongue causes the bacteria accumulated in the tongue to not be removed from the mouth and the bacteria to multiply over time. As a result, these bacteria can spread to the teeth, causing inflammation in the gums, tooth loss, miscarriage in pregnancy, and serious problems such as heart attack.
- Failure to do regular tongue cleaning may cause discoloration of the tongue. Because the pieces of food and drink accumulated on the tongue are not cleaned and lead to the formation of stains on the tongue. Over time, this can cause the tongue to darken and look hairy, thus causing you to worry about aesthetics.
How To Clean Tongue?
There are 2 different methods / apparatus used for tongue cleaning:
- Toothbrush
- Tongue scraper.
If you do not have access to the above-mentioned materials, you can also clean the tongue with the help of a spoon.
The simplest way to clean your tongue is to brush your tongue while brushing your teeth. While these methods clean your tongue with a toothbrush, you should not brush your tongue by pulling your tongue out completely. In this way, the dirt accumulated on the tongue can be easily thrown out. At the same time, it is prevented from settling in the mouth again.
If you are going to use a toothbrush for tongue cleaning, you should make sure that your toothbrush is soft. Because a hard-bristled toothbrush can cause damage to your tongue.
You can also use a tongue scraper to clean your tongue. Bring the tongue scraper to the root of the tongue and move it towards the tip of the tongue. In this way, food particles accumulated on the tongue are cleaned. After using the tongue scraper, you should rinse your mouth by gargle and repeat this process two or three times.
Studies show that there is no big difference between toothbrush and tongue scraper in terms of tongue cleaning performance.
If you do not have access to a toothbrush or tongue scraper, you can also clean your tongue using a tablespoon. However, the spoon you will use should be separate from other spoons and you should always do this with the same spoon.
You should place the lower part of the spoon on the tongue, keeping it upside down to your palate. Then you should pull the spoon to yourself by scraping the top of the tongue. This process is almost the same as using a tongue scraper.
When using a spoon to clean your tongue, you should be gentle to avoid damage to your tongue. Very hard movements can cause damage to the tongue.
What Are the Benefits of Tongue Cleaning?
The benefits of tongue cleaning are as follows:
- It helps to remove bacteria or other problems that cause bad breath. If there is a different ailment, a dentist must be examined for bad breath.
- It prevents the gradual growth and spread of bacteria accumulating on the tongue surface. In this way, it prevents discomfort in the mouth and teeth. At the same time, it helps to protect general health by preventing the occurrence of some diseases.
- Bacteria accumulating in the tongue can cause plaque formation. Therefore, plaque formation can be prevented by paying attention to tongue hygiene.
- Oral and dental hygiene can be fully achieved when tongue cleaning is done regularly. In this way, you can have healthy and long-lasting teeth.
