Does tongue scraping work and should we be doing it?

Caption: What is tongue scraping and what are the benefits? (Picture: Getty Images)

While regular parts of our dental care routine, like rinsing with mouthwash, might make our tongue pink, it’s not actually cleaning it properly.

That’s where tongue scraping comes in – and the fairly new oral trend may be the final step to having a perfectly healthy mouth.

It’s pretty much what it says on the tin. You scrape your tongue to get rid of any harmful bacteria or debris.

Although it isn’t as important as flossing or brushing, tongue scraping eliminates bad bacteria that could lead to inflammation of the gums as well as cavities.

Dr Sundeep Patel, Cosmetic Dentist and Clinical Lead for Waldron Dental Clinic said: ‘Often after we eat or drink our tongue can feel fuzzy or like it needs a clean, so morning and night scraping your tongue can help to remove bacteria from that area to prevent any dental issues down the line such as inflammation, gum issues, cavities or bad breath.’

Tongue scraping has major benefits for your oral health (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

So how do you do it? It’s actually pretty simple:

Stick out your tongueStart the scraper at the back of the tongueRun the scraper all the way to the front three or four timesUse light pressureRinse the scraper under warm water between scrapesSwish your mouth out with water or mouthwash afterwards

And there are a whole host of major benefits to incorporating this into your oral care routine.

Tongue scraping helps prevent bad breath which Dr Patel says occurs due to food particles or bacteria sitting on your tongue, so by removing these the mouth will smell better.

Scraping your tongue can also improve your taste and improve the appearance of your tongue.

Scraping can prevent bad breath and improve your sense of taste (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Dr Patel said: ‘If scraped twice a day, your tongue may be able to distinguish foods more easily and you will be able to taste salty, sweet or sour foods more easily.

‘It can also improve the appearance of the tongue, when often our tongue has a white coating, scraping can remove this and leave it looking clean and healthy.’

Tongue scraping could also prevent gum disease and cavities, which will save you a hefty amount of money at the dentist.

Dr Patel said: ‘Bacteria on the tongue can actually aggravate the gums and could lead to inflammation, this could then lead to gum disease. So removing this bacteria often will help to keep the mouth healthy.’

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These oral hygiene tips certainly won’t leave a sour taste in your mouth.