Should you be getting yourself a tongue cleaner? Some people aren’t even aware that you can buy those nifty little contraptions. While you should be brushing your tongue thoroughly each time you brush, sometimes that just isn’t enough. If you notice that your tongue still tastes bad, or your bad breath doesn’t go away, you may want to take a few dollars and invest in a tongue cleaner.
What a Tongue Cleaner Does
Typically, when you get a tongue cleaner, you are getting a small, curved device with a handle. The device has rubber rows on it, which get dragged across your tongue. The rubber agitates the bacteria left on your tongue, and lift them up so that you can spit them out.
Once you are done, you should rinse your mouth first with water, then with a mouthwash that can help to kill off any remaining bacteria that didn’t get lifted up by the tongue cleaner.
When bacteria get left on your tongue, it can lead to a whole host of problems. You can get bad breath, increased number of cavities, and you can also have gum disease start spreading around your mouth. When you remove the bacteria growing on your tongue, you reduce your risks for all of these problems, and your entire overall oral health increases.
The next time you are sitting in your dentist’s chair, talk to them about the importance of cleaning your tongue. If your oral health is very good, brushing may be all you need to do to keep the bacteria on your tongue in check. However, if your oral health is mediocre or less, you may want to get a tongue cleaner so that you can get your tongue more deeply cleaned and get more of the problematic bacteria out of your mouth.
Please contact our office if you have any questions about how a tongue cleaner affects your oral health.