Tongue Cleaning

Your tongue is a breeding ground for millions of bacteria. These tiny organisms breed at the back of the mouth, attacking teeth and gums leaving sulfur based compounds behind as they reproduce and die. The majority of bacteria responsible for bad breath are normally washed away by saliva but when they're left alone they produce many of the bad breath smells associated with halitosis. Whilst brushing your teeth and flossing can help remove this bacteria from in between your teeth and gums many survive on your tongue.

Research has shown that tongue cleaning can help to remove some of these kinds of bacteria, food debris and dead cells from the rear of your tongue. Tongue cleaning has been used throughout the world for hundreds of years as an effective way to treat halitosis and clinical research backs this up. Research also shows that in most cases of halitosis the cause of bad breath originated in the mouth with under 10% of cases being associated with the stomach and tonsils. Clinical studies conducted into the effects of tongue cleaning suggest that cleansing the tongue daily can have a significant effect on eradicating bacteria.

Oral bacteria aren't just responsible for halitosis but can also be associated with a number of serious medical conditions known as systemic diseases such as pneumonia, fertility problems in men, cardiovascular problems and diabetes.

How to properly clean your tongue

To correctly clean your tongue you'll first need a tongue cleaning tool, these are easy to find and can be bought over the counter in many places. Research suggests that cleaning your tongue for only 30 seconds twice a day can have a massive impact on your oral health so it's important to keep up your regime.

Once you have the right tool for the job, simply run the scraping section across your tongue and you should see a build up of film-like substance collect on the scraper. Once you have a build up simply rinse your tool and repeat. The final step is rinsing your mouth out with water which will remove any excess bacteria.