Photo courtesy of Oskay on Flickr
Here’s something new to add to your nighttime get-ready-for-bed ritual: Tongue scraping.
I’ll be the first to admit it, this sounds like a medieval torture, but I assure you it’s not. A tongue scraper does exactly what it sounds like it does—it scrapes the top layer of the tongue, getting rid of yucky leftover food, debris, and plaque.Here’s a fun fact: Did you know that approximately 70% of the bacteria in your mouth is on your tongue? It’s true. These microbes contribute to plaque on your teeth, causing periodontal problems, gum infections, tooth decay, and in the worst cases, tooth loss. No thanks!
If that’s not enough to get you to use a scraper, try my #1 reason: Cleaning the tongue daily is known to cut sugar cravings. Why? Because you are ridding your mouth of any food debris that may be lingering. It’s amazing (but true!) that cravings can be triggered by tiny food particles left in the mouth from earlier in the day. So, to keep those cravings away I scrape, scrape, scrape.
Even better than that—Do you know the sense of accomplishment and excitement you feel when you floss your teeth (you DO floss your teeth, right?) and some big hunk of food comes out? Well, you get that same end result when you scrape your tongue. Just watching all that gunk come out will make you proud.
Tongue scrapers are super cheap and can be found easily. So no excuses, and repeat after me: Brush. Floss. Scrape.
Category: NY Eat IN
4 Comments
i use my toothbrush to clean my tongue, i wonder if that’s just as good?
Laura,
A toothbrush can definitely work, but this nifty gadget really gets all of the surface nastiness off. If you do brush your tongue, make sure you do it in a back of the tongue to front motion, so you’re not spreading the bacteria around!
thanks amanda!
I think that tongue scrapping is a very good routine to add. Thanks for posting this.