You brush your teeth. You clean between them. Maybe you’ve even perfected your two-minute brushing ritual.
But there’s another part of your mouth that deserves a little attention too.
Your tongue.
Take a look at its surface and you’ll notice it isn’t smooth. Your tongue has a textured surface with tiny structures and grooves where saliva, food debris, dead cells and microorganisms can collect.
That build-up contributes to the coating you sometimes notice when you stick out your tongue.
And while bacteria are a completely normal part of your mouth, that doesn’t mean all that build-up needs to stay there.
WHAT’S ACTUALLY LIVING ON YOUR TONGUE?
Your mouth is home to a diverse community of microorganisms collectively known as your oral microbiome.
And your tongue is part of that ecosystem.
Its textured surface provides plenty of places for microorganisms to live. That’s completely normal. A healthy mouth isn’t supposed to be bacteria-free.
But just as brushing helps physically remove plaque and debris from your teeth, tongue cleaning can help physically remove coating and debris from the surface of your tongue.
It’s not about trying to eliminate every bacterium in your mouth. It’s simply another way of caring for your whole oral environment.
AND YES… YOUR BREATH MAY NOTICE
Ever brushed your teeth and still felt like your breath wasn’t particularly fresh?
Your tongue may be part of the picture.
Some bacteria associated with tongue coating can produce compounds known as volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs), which are associated with bad breath.
Because these bacteria and their by-products can accumulate within tongue coating, particularly towards the back of the tongue, physically cleaning the tongue can help remove some of that build-up.
In other words, brushing your teeth might only be part of the fresh-breath equation.
CAN’T I JUST BRUSH MY TONGUE?
You can clean your tongue with your toothbrush.
A tongue cleaner, however, is designed specifically to glide across the tongue’s surface and physically lift away coating and debris.
It’s a small addition to your oral-care ritual, and once you get into the habit, it takes only a few seconds.
HOW TO USE A TONGUE CLEANER
Tongue cleaning should be gentle, there’s no need to aggressively scrape your tongue.
- Place your tongue cleaner towards the back of your tongue, only as far as feels comfortable.
- Using light pressure, gently draw it forward towards the tip.
- Rinse your tongue cleaner.
- Repeat for a few gentle passes.
- Rinse your tongue cleaner thoroughly after use and allow it to dry.
If anything feels uncomfortable, ease up on the pressure or stop. Gentle is enough.
YOUR TONGUE DESERVES A LITTLE ATTENTION TOO
Good oral care doesn’t need to be complicated.
We spend so much time thinking about our teeth that it can be easy to forget the rest of our mouth. Tongue cleaning is simply another small step in caring for your whole oral environment.
At ohGiGi®, we like to think of it as part of a simple everyday Smile Ritual:
SCRAPE. PULL. BRUSH.
A few gentle passes.
A few extra seconds.
One more part of your mouth cared for.