Should You Be Brushing Your Tongue?

Let’s start with what we already know about oral hygiene. You should brush your teeth twice a day. You should use a soft bristled brush and replace it every few months. Perfect. Now for the part, you may not want to hear. You should also be brushing your tongue. Perhaps you’ve heard brushing your tongue is a good idea. Perhaps you tried it once or twice. Maybe you determined that it is a practice best left to the hygiene fanatics. It isn’t. You should be brushing your tongue.

Is it Really Necessary?

Just to make it crystal clear again, brushing your tongue is an important part of oral hygiene. Perhaps you’re not completely convinced of the idea. Isn’t brushing your teeth good enough to clean your tongue in the process? The tongue will certainly get rinsed as you gargle the toothpaste out of your mouth. Imagine you are washing the dishes. Do you only scrub the pots and pans? Is it good enough that the plates got rinsed while tumbling around in the dirty dishwater? Gross. Don’t invite anyone over for dinner if that is the case. Bacteria builds up on teeth and tongue alike. They both need to be scrubbed.

Much like the plates in the aforementioned analogy, you don’t need to give your tongue as much attention as your teeth. Brush your tongue once a day. You can use a toothbrush, or purchase a tongue scraper from your local drug store. They both work effectively. What would any self-respecting blog post be without a helpful set of instructions?

  1. Brush your tongue once a day (morning or night).
  2. Use a toothbrush or a tongue scraper.
  3. Brush your tongue in all directions (forward, backward, side to side).
  4. Rinse out your mouth when you’re done.
  5. It’s ok to brush your teeth and tongue at the same time.
  6. Brushing your tongue will help prevent bad breath.

 

Fantastic. Now go and share your newfound knowledge with your friends and family.

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