Thursday, April 24, 2008
When you brushed your teeth this morning—if you brushed at all—did you pay attention to your tongue, too? If not, your mouth may be harboring lots of bacteria.
Don't neglect your tongue.
Sheila Wolf, registered dental hygienist and author of Your Mouth Could be Killing You, says that more than 80 percent of mouth odors come from bacteria on the surface of your tongue. Everything that goes into your mouth passes over your tongue. Wolf says that because the tongue contains tiny openings, like taste buds, there are plenty of ideal places for the anaerobic bacteria—bacteria that live without air—to hide out and multiply.
On your tongue, the bacteria produce volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) from the food you eat, from bacterial waste products and from the natural process of skin cells that are sloughed off each day. If you don’t regularly clean and oxygenate your tongue, Wolf says, the layer of bacteria on your tongue will become thicker, and the VSCs from that pile o’ germs will cause some serious foul-smelling breath.
To reduce the amount of bacteria in your mouth and thus the stink flowing out of your mouth, Wolf recommends using a tongue scraper or a soft toothbrush to clean off your tongue every day. She says you should put the brush or scraper back as far as is comfortable and firmly move it back and forth along the surface of your tongue. Wolf says you should never be gagging when you do this, and your tongue should never bleed. Finding the right scraper is a lot like finding the right tooth brush, Wolf says. You have to experiment with brands and sizes until you find the right one. It’s all right to get a little creative with your tongue-cleaning instrument. Some people Wolf has treated have used small spoons and even popsicle sticks successfully. Wolf says the main thing is to remove bacteria without harming your tongue or gums.
So later today, when you put paste to brush, remember that your teeth aren’t the only things that need cleaning, and scrub that tongue.
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