Why Tongue Cleaning AT All?

The tongue, which is the gateway to the all important digestive system, is also home to millions and millions of bacteria. Its rough papillary surface is such that it provides an ideal environment for collection of desquamated cells, food debris and bacterial growth, capable of malodour production.

The following are areas where tongue cleaning assumes significant importance.

Halitosis or Bad Breath: The real culprit of bad breath is bacteria, not food, and bacteria on the tongue. Cleaning your teeth and maintaining healthy gums is only the first step in achieving fresh breath. To complete the job, in fact, to do most of the job, you need to clean your tongue. It has been found that brushing the teeth reduces breath odour by 25% but cleaning the tongue reduces breath odour by 75%! A combination of the two reduces it by 85%. Tongue cleaning is the single most effective method of decreasing breath odour. It cuts down on bacteria and leftover food particles, both implicated in tooth decay, periodontal disease as well as bad breath.

Dental Plaque: Recent scientific studies show that the top of the tongue harbours micro-organisms that are a probable source of bacteria for dental plaque. Since habitual tongue cleaning produces a clinically clean, or pink tongue, they believe it should be a regular part of home oral hygiene procedures. This would not only lead to fresher breath and to more healthy oral environment, but it would also contribute in a big way to the reduction in dental plaque.

Gustation: Taste buds are complex epithelial structures which when stimulated transmit sensations to the brain. The stimuli are chemical substances in the food which must be dissolved in saliva before they can enter the taste pores and stimulate the nerve endings. It is obvious that a dirty tongue cannot taste the subtle flavours of good food and that a clean tongue would be capable of savouring the most refined of tastes.

Health: In the past, the tongue was a key predictor of illness. For dentists and physicians alike, it was a much relied upon diagnostic means of identifying many maladies inside the mouth.

Considering all of the above, wouldn't a clean tongue, cleaned in the right way, lead to a healthier and a more fulfilling life?

Confessions of a Tongue Cleaning Addict

I think that the most common thing between us humans is our ritual of the morning. Starting from cleaning the eyes to brushing the teeth, to going to the toilet and to finishing with a bath. Most of us can even forget to pray to our homely gods but never the cleaning ritual.

Well, I have an added activity in my ritual which very few have in common with me and that is TONGUE CLEANING. Only people who are in this habit will understand me when I say that we would even give up brushing our teeth but never cleaning our tongues. With tongue cleaning, one has the true concept of freshness of the mouth; with brushing the teeth it is really the mint in the paste that induces the sense of freshness.

Desquamated cells and food debris collect on the tongue and ferment through the night. These are responsible, to a great degree, for Halitosis or bad breath. With these scraped out with a tongue cleaner, the freshness stays practically through the day.

If you don’t believe me, take a look at your tongue early in the morning. You will see white deposit on the tongue which might make you feel quite repulsed. Then pick up a tongue cleaner and clear the muck till the tongue becomes rosy pink in colour and then experience the feeling of freshness and hygiene. It is nearly spiritual, I assure you.