What is a Tongue Scraper?
A tongue scraper is an apparatus tailored to clean the surface of your tongue that has accumulated debris, bacteria and particles overtime that cause bad breath. Thus, essentially, tongue scrapers are aimed to eliminate foul odour.
How Did Tongue Scraping Start?
The practice of tongue scraping is linked with Ayurveda, an ancient medical system originating in the Indian Sub-Continent. Many oriental and eastern cultures, such as Arab or African cultures, have also traditionally used tongue scraping practice for centuries as part of the oral regimen. Evidently, the practice of tongue scraping has been a part of human civilization for a long period.
How to Use a Tongue Scraper?
To use a tongue scraper, you should open your mouth wide open in front of a mirror and stick out your tongue so you can see the farthest possible point. You should position the tongue scraper at this point and start pulling it forward gently towards the tip of the tongue. You should clean the tongue scraper after every scrape and continue as desired. Once you are done, you should wash the tongue scraper with water and keep it in a dried state.
The Best Tongue Scraper?
Tongue scrapers come in various shapes, sizes and materials. Copper tongue scrapers and stainless steel tongue scrapers are worthwhile; however, scrapers made from plastic are easy to use and affordable. In terms of shape, tongue scrapers are either in a single-handle with a rounded scraper like a spoon or a dual handle with a U-shape scraper. It all comes down to your comfortability in the end when choosing the tongue scraper.
Do they work?
Most researches conducted regarding the potential benefits of tongue scrapers indicate a positive conclusion.
Scrapers reduce bacterias.
As per research, frequent tongue scraping reduces bacterias such as Mutans streptococci and Lactobacilli on the surface of the tongue. These bacteria cause dental decay, bad breath and prevent other health conditions that can affect your mouth such as oral diseases and cavities.
Tongue scrapers improve the sense of taste.
Through tongue scraping, your tongue gets rid of the food debris and other particles influencing your taste. Thus, your taste can significantly improve.
Tongue scraping improves the appearance of your tongue.
When your tongue has built up extra substances, it takes on a yellow color that looks umpleast. Scraping enhances the condition of tongue as the tongue loses the debris that caused the yellowish hue and returns to its natural color, pink.
Tongue Scrapers reduce bad breath.
Most importantly, tongue scrapers indeed reduce bad breath and are more useful compared to toothbrushes as a study suggests that they remove 30% more odour-causing particles than a regular toothbrush.
Tongue scraping is an essential part of oral regimen accompanied by overall oral care. Along with tongue scraping, you should brush your teeth twice in a day for at least 1 minute with a suitable toothpaste such as fluoride based toothpaste that can kill bacteria and cavities. You should also floss your teeth daily and stay hydrated to avoid getting your mouth dry. You should limit food items that help grow bacteria and harmful substances such as nicotine. Ideally, you should pay a visit to your dentist twice a year or more but in case of a sudden problem in your mouth, you should urgently see your doctor.