When you visit the dentist, you may receive a recommendation to pay more attention to your oral health, but have you ever received instructions specifically to take care of the cleanliness of your tongue? Keeping your tongue clean is just as much a health act as cleaning your teeth.
In the thousands of years old Indian medicine Ayurveda, language plays a special role. Ayurveda considers the tongue to have a direct connection to the important organs of the body, such as the heart, liver, stomach and kidneys. The Ayurvedic view also sees the tongue as reflecting the health of these internal organs. Different parts of the tongue are connected to the lungs, heart, stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys and intestines. Cleaning the tongue with a tongue scraper removes the dirt on the tongue and at the same time massages the tongue and stimulates connections to other parts of the body. The well-being of the tongue reflects the well-being of the whole body, and taking care of it can promote the health of the whole body.
Even Western medicine recognizes the importance of the tongue as part of oral hygiene, but often not enough attention is paid to it. Problems in the mouth are often in the teeth and gums, and therefore more focus has naturally been placed on them. Even if the tongue does not get cavities, like the teeth, a dirty tongue can also play a role in maintaining the condition of the teeth.
Tongue scraping can, among other things:
- Improves the sense of taste. Cleaning the tongue twice a day can improve the sense of taste and the differences between pungent, sweet, salty and sour will become clearer.
- Make the language look better . Dirt accumulated on the tongue can look like a white layer on the tongue, which can be removed by cleaning the tongue. Regular scraping can also prevent it from coming back.
- Reduces bad breath. Tongue scraping cannot replace careful tooth brushing, but a tongue scraper is particularly suitable for cleaning the tongue. Cleaning the tongue with a scraper is easier than with a toothbrush and it removes bad breath bacteria more effectively.
- Reduces harmful bacteria in the mouth. Daily use of a tongue scraper reduces harmful oral bacteria, which can be a contributing factor to bad breath, but also to tooth decay.
- Improves general health . The aforementioned reduction of oral bacteria can also improve overall health. Fighting harmful oral bacteria reduces oral problems, which can have negative effects on the well-being of the whole body.
A tongue scraper is most effective when used regularly. Tongue cleaning is easy and natural to include in other oral hygiene care in the mornings and evenings while brushing the teeth. Then you don't have to create your own, separate routines for it, and it becomes an effortless part of every day. Cleaning the tongue can also be done with a toothbrush, but a tongue scraper can remove harmful compounds from the surface of the tongue up to 30% more effectively than with a toothbrush. The tongue scraper is also smaller, lighter and more precise, which can reduce nagging when cleaning the back of the tongue.
This is how you clean your tongue using a tongue scraper:
- Stand in front of a mirror, open your mouth and stick your tongue out.
- Carefully place the round end of the tongue scraper on the back of the tongue. If you are sensitive to gagging, place the scraper in the center of the tongue. When you get used to scraping, you can move the scraper further behind the tongue.
- Carefully pull the scraper forward along the surface of the tongue and out of the mouth. Never push the scraper into the mouth, but always proceed from the direction of the pharynx to the outside.
- After pulling, clean the tongue scraper with a damp towel or under running water. Clean the scraper after each stroke.
- Repeat until the entire tongue is clean. One to two bets over one area is usually enough.
- Finally, wash the tongue scraper with warm water and soap, dry and store in a clean, dry place.
Tongue scrapers are available in different materials and there are some differences in their models. The closest thing to Ayurvedic traditions is a copper tongue scraper. As a material, copper is antibacterial, durable in its purpose and easy to keep clean. The copper tongue scraper is also affordable. The shape of a good tongue scraper is simple. It forms a wide V, it is long enough to properly reach the palate, because it cleans the tongue effortlessly and it is also easy to keep clean in itself.
Cleaning the tongue takes less than two minutes, and everyone can do it. Make tongue cleaning a part of your daily, regular routine and you will get yourself a lot of new health with little effort!
Could this be your latest purchase for your own health:Â Tongue scraper, copper
In the video below, you can see how to clean the tongue using a tongue scraper.
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