When it comes to taking care of our mouths, many people think they’ve got their routine down pat. They brush, they floss…. they may even swish with mouthwash. But chances are people are leaving one crucial area untouched: the tongue.
Brushing your tongue, or tongue scraping, is a very important oral hygiene practice that removes bacteria, food debris, toxins, and dead cells from the surface of the tongue.
Cleaning your tongue daily can not only improve your oral health (and breath), but also your overall health in some pretty surprising ways.
(RELATED: Open Wide: What Does Your Tongue Look Like?)
It’s an Immunity Booster
In this day of Coronavirus concerns, our immune systems can use all the help they can get it. Believe it or not, your tongue is your first line of defense in our immune systems. Scraping your tongue not only helps prevent toxins from being reabsorbed into your body, it also boosts overall immune function.
Since, ehe tongue is made up of lots of cracks and irregular surfaces it’s an ideal site for the growth of bugs/bacteria. Think of it as being like a carpet — it needs to be cleaned regularly!
It Improves Sense of Taste
Research suggests that brushing your tongue twice daily can improve your sense of taste. That’s because without removing the mucus on your tongue, your taste buds can become blocked making it difficult to recognize the taste of food.
Removing build-up from the surface of your tongue can open up the tongue’s pores, helping to expose your taste buds.
It Improves Overall Oral Health
Not only does giving your tongue a good scraping help with your general tooth and gum health, it also helps to remove bacteria and toxins from the mouth which could help prevent oral health problems such as plaque build-up, tooth decay, loss of teeth, gum infections, and gum recession.
(RELATED: 2 Easy Ways to Lower Your Risk of Oral Cancer)
It Can Boost Digestive Health
Without scraping your tongue to remove bacteria it can linger in the mouth and travel down the throat to your gut. And no one needs those kind of nasties in their gut. By scraping your tongue you’ll not only help remove that bacteria, you’ll also kickstart saliva production and promote agni (the body’s digestive fire) which can help improve digestion.
Do you have questions about how to clean your tongue? We’ve got answers. Talk to us at your next appointment – or give us a call: 626-624-4043.
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