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The Importance of a Clean Tongue

People tend to rush through brushing their teeth and neglect one of the most important parts of the mouth, the tongue! Good oral health means taking care of your whole mouth, teeth, gums, and tongue included. Neglecting your tongue can cause problems to arise that you might not otherwise face.

Bad breath, or halitosis, is probably the most well-known side effect of poor oral hygiene. The tongue, in particular the back of the tongue, tends to collect bacteria and germs. The front of the tongue is better at naturally cleaning itself because it moves more. More than half of all oral halitosis is due to residues on the tongue that can be brushed away.

While unhealthy, a dirty tongue can also impede your sense of taste and even contribute to weight gain. The tongue houses your taste buds, so when it is coated with residue, the taste cells are prevented from tasting. A decreased sense of taste can be linked to an increased intake of sugar and fat.

How should you care for your tongue?

There are many specialty products that can help make the job a little easier. Relatively new on the market are tongue scrapers. There are many different designs of tongue scrapers. There are plastic scrapers built into flossers, or flexible plastic strips designed to be pulled across the tongue. There are also tongue brushes, specially designed for cleaning the tongue. Of course, you can always use a soft toothbrush.

Ideally, you should clean your tongue as often as your teeth, but at least once per day. The scraping or brushing should be done before brushing your teeth. Remember to be gentle—you can actually damage the taste buds or tongue by scraping too aggressively. Many people are deterred from brushing their tongue because of a gag reflex. Start near the back of the tongue and scrape forward, which should prevent the gag reflex from kicking in because it won’t feel like you’re going to unintentionally swallow or choke on something. Brushing your tongue more often will also start to desensitize your gag reflex, so be persistent.

Teeth Stain Prevention

The key to white teeth isn’t necessarily bleaching. Paying attention to the food and drink you consume is just as important.  Coffee, dark sodas and red wine can discolor smile not only because they’re dark-colored, but they are also very acidic. The acid in these beverages can etch away at your tooth enamel, allowing stains to develop. It’s not just tinted drinks that can darken your smile, though. While white wine doesn’t have the dark color of red, it still is very acidic and can make your teeth vulnerable to stains. Red wine also contains tannins, molecules in red wine that play a big part in the aging process.

 Try some of the following tips to prevent stains:

1. Never drink coffee or red wine after whitening your teeth. Your teeth are dehydrated and more sensitive to staining after the whitening process. Your saliva will rehydrate and re-mineralize your teeth in a short amount of time, but it is best to avoid the chance of staining them during this period.

2. Drinking through a straw can help prevent the offending liquid from touching the front of the teeth. Try switching to iced coffee so you can sip it through a straw.

3. Sip water or club soda in between glasses of wine to minimize the amount of acid left on your teeth.

4. Eating textured food like apples or celery can help scrub away the residue before it sets in.

5. Snack on cheese. Cheese acts as a barrier and protects your teeth from stains.

6. Chew gum after drinking dark beverages. Chewing gum makes the mouth produce more saliva, which will wash away harmful residue and will re-mineralize your tooth enamel.

7. Wait at least one hour after a glass of wine to brush your teeth. If you brush too soon you can increase wear-and-tear on your teeth while they’re still reeling from the acidity, which sets you up for stains in the future.

8. Most importantly, get regular dental cleanings. Teeth that have more plaque and tartar build-up are more susceptible to stains. Clean, smooth teeth are more resilient to staining.