What is the Purpose of Tongue-Scraping?
By: Stephen Price DDS | Monday, April 30th, 2018 | General Dentistry, Oral Health
Monday, April 30th, 2018
One of our biggest objectives of patient care is to enable individuals of all ages to adequately care for their teeth and gums. We can do this by monitoring oral health on a routine basis. Additionally, we support patients by offering suggestions that may help them increase the efficiency of home care. There are several strategies that provide immense value, such as using a flossing stick to reach the back of the mouth or using an electric toothbrush to disrupt plaque formation around the base of teeth. Tongue scraping is another example, though one that may sound “out there.”
Standing the Test of Time
Throughout history, some trends have faded away, and some have stood the test of time. Tongue-scraping, as barbaric as it may sound, is one of them. This method of cleaning the back of the tongue dates back to ancient times. It continues to be popular among Ayurvedic practitioners today. Here’s why it may become popular with you, too.
Though technique has evolved over centuries of time, the simplicity of the tongue-scraping practice has sustained. The general purpose of this practice is to cleanse the back of the tongue. To do this, a non-sharp instrument is gently run from the back of the tongue forward. As the scraping instrument moves, it picks up debris. The debris that is removed includes microscopic food particles, saliva, and bacteria. Do you know what this mixture becomes? Plaque.
Today, we know plaque as Enemy Number One to longstanding oral health. Plaque causes cavities, gum disease, and bad breath – and these are just the short-term consequences of this biofilm. So, when you scrape plaque off the back of your tongue, you gain benefits such as:
- Better oral health. Where there is a plaque, there will be a disease. It’s that simple. Plaque from the back of the tongue increases the chances of bacterial invasion between teeth at the back of the mouth.
- Better breath. Sure, bad breath may come from the onions you had with lunch, but there is also a good chance that bacteria are to blame. The origin of chronic bad breath is often found on the back of the tongue, where bacterial byproduct emits an odorous smell.
- Better taste! One of the interesting benefits of tongue-scraping reported by those who do it is that their food tastes better. This is likely because biofilm at the back of the tongue covers taste buds.
Home care is only one aspect of lifelong oral health. We can help you with the rest. To schedule an exam and to clean with your Northern Virginia dentist, call (703)-935-2879.
