Did you know that your mouth is home to more than 6 billion bacteria? Maybe tongue scraping is something you’ve heard of before, but you yourself haven't ventured to try. Perhaps you’ve never heard of tongue scraping in your life and you think the idea of it is disgusting, or you’re the person who scrapes your tongue everyday. Whichever category you fall into, I'm here to give you all the details on the benefits of tongue scraping.
The Benefits of Tongue Scraping
Tongue scraping is commonly done with a tongue scraper or your toothbrush. It's actually quite beneficial to your overall health and well being, because it gets rid of bad smells or tastes by eliminating food and dirt that builds up in on your tongue over time.
Scraping your tongue will also increase your ability to taste food, which is hindered if there's too much leftover food on your tongue. By being able to taste food better, you'll be more conscious of what you're eating, which will theoretically cause you not to overeat. This will also encourage you to add less salt or excessive spices to your food. The only downside to scraping your tongue is if you use it incorrectly or too much, it can irritate or damage the taste buds.
The Basics of Tongue Scraping
When you begin tongue scraping, you have a couple of options. You can clean your tongue by scraping or by brushing, but scraping is usually more effective because brushing can leave more bacteria than you started with. More effective methods involve a tongue scraper or a spoon.
When using a tongue scraper, gently move it back and forth over the tongue several times (make sure to scrape the sides too). Rinse your mouth afterwards and wash the tongue scraper. If you use a spoon, it's basically the same method, but make sure you use a small spoon and turn it upside down and move it over your tongue gently. You can also use your toothbrush, but make sure to scrape the tongue instead of brushing over it as this only spreads the bacteria around.
The key to tongue scraping is doing it consistently and being gentle and thorough. The last thing you want to do is create more germs or irritate the skin on your tongue. Oral hygiene is important, and what better way to ensure that your mouth is clean than consistently cleaning one of the germiest areas in your mouth?