Should You Clean Your Tongue While Brushing Your Teeth?
If you brush your teeth twice a day and floss daily, there’s one more thing to add to your routine: cleaning your tongue. You could have a great brushing and flossing habit but not cleaning your tongue puts it all to waste.
Brushing your tongue can help fight halitosis, or bad breath. Colonies of bacteria live on your tongue, called a biofilm. Most of it is actually good bacteria that can protect you from diseases, but some of it can also make your breath stink.
To brush your tongue, you can either use your regular toothbrush, or a tongue scraper, which you can find in most grocery stores. You can also use a toothbrush that has a tongue scrubber on the back of the head. Begin by sticking your tongue out, and gently scrub or scrape your tongue, starting at the back and working toward the front. Pay extra attention to the middle creases of your tongue, because that’s where most of the bacteria collects. If your tongue becomes sore after a few tries, that probably means you are using too much pressure. If brushing the back of your tongue triggers your gag reflex, stick your tongue out as far as you can. Brush slowly while relaxing your tongue and breathing out. To get the cleanest tongue, brush your tongue whenever you brush your teeth, which should be in the morning after you wake up, and in the evening before bed.
Do you have more questions about how to clean your tongue? Call us at Aspen Dental; we would love to answer your questions.