I must admit, having a mouth odour or sitting beside someone that has it can be a real joy killer. No matter how many times you brush a day or how many mints you eat to ward off the odour, sometimes the bad odour still persists, and it’s sometimes impossible to get rid of.
Sometimes these bad odours are caused when you don’t properly clean your tongue after brushing.
According to DURAL DENTAL, Bad odour is mostly caused from the bacteria and dead cells that settle on your tongue from the foods you eat. When the bacteria thrives due to not having the appropriate equipment to remove bacteria off your tongue it results in bad breath.
Many people use a soft or medium bristle toothbrush to clean their tongue after brushing their teeth. This can stop the bad breath for a little while and it can reduce the shelf- life of your toothbrush because the bristles may damage faster.
Instead use a tongue scraper because it scrapes off the germs causing the bad breath from your tongue, giving you a long-lasting fresh breath.
A tongue scraper is a special dental equipment, made of plastic that can be effective in keeping your tongue clean, fresh from bacteria and keep that bad breath two miles from your mouth.
How to Use a Tongue Scraper
Scraping your tongue after brushing can sometimes make you nauseous, but not to worry, if you follow these steps, you will find it easy and refreshing afterwards.
After brushing, Stand in front of a mirror, open your mouth, and stick out your tongue, open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue, place the tongue scraper towards the back of the tongue,
Slowly bring the scraper forward, picking up the bacterial cells in the process, rinse the scraper, repeat the process till you are convinced the tongue is clean.
Finally, wash the tongue scraper with soap and warm water and store the scraper in an appropriate place.
Refrain from placing the scraper too far back on your tongue. When you first start scraping, you may find it helpful to scrape from the middle of your tongue to the tip. You can slowly start from farther back as you get used to the nausea sensation.
Scraping your tongue is simple and painless and will leave you with fresh breath all day long.
Benefits of Tongue scraping after brushing your teeth
Bacteria, and dead cells can build up on your tongue over time especially if you don’t scrape your tongue after brushing. This can lead to bad breath and have a negative impact on your overall oral health which may also result to developing tonsil stones.
Using a tongue scraper can help remove this buildup.
Scraping improves your sense of taste:
Rachel, Nall of Health line suggests that using a tongue scraper twice daily can improve your sense of taste:
It Improve the appearance of your tongue. Excess Buildup of debris can give your tongue a whitish, greyish or brownish colour, depending on what you ate the previous night.
Daily scraping can help remove this debris and prevent bad breath.
Remove bacteria:
Researchers in one 2005 studyTrusted Source found that using a tongue scraper twice a day for seven days reduced the overall incidence of Mutans streptococci and Lactobacilli bacteria in the mouth.
These bacteria are known to cause bad breath and dental decay.
One should be mindful of how much pressure to apply while scraping. You have to be as gentle as possible to avoid hurting your tastes buds. Start soft and slowly increase the pressure.
Finally, Tongue scraping for bad breath isn’t exactly a step in an oral routine that many people perform. There are hidden benefits to enjoy if you do start to scrape your tongue.
