What does a tongue cleaner do?
How and how often should you clean your tongue?

Thorough oral hygiene is essential for oral health. And this has a significant impact on general health. The greatest risk of mouth disease comes from harmful bacteria. However, what many people do not know is that bacteria not only nest on the teeth and in the spaces between them, but also on the tongue, and it is assumed that up to 80% of the bacteria in the mouth are on the tongue. Dead cell parts of the oral mucosa and food residues form a coating there that offers bacteria an ideal breeding ground. And in the depressions of the rough surface of the tongue, the harmful bacteria that do not need oxygen feel particularly at home. Since these microorganisms can promote periodontitis, tongue cleaning should be a regular part of your oral hygiene. The advantages of tongue cleaning With a tongue cleaning you remove the coating on the tongue together with a large part of the bacteria.

Experts assume that halitosis, i.e. bad breath, occurs in the mouth in up to 90 percent of all cases. This is partly due to the bacteria living on the tongue, which form volatile sulfur compounds from dead cells and leftover food. The latter are then responsible for the bad breath.

We recommend using a tongue cleaner specially developed for optimal oral care. With special tongue scrapers, you can specifically reduce the bacteria described above and free the tongue from white, yellow or brown coating. With regular, proper use, your tongue will have a healthy, pale pink glow and your breath will stay fresh. A pleasant side effect is that the taste buds are also freed from deposits during the cleaning process. This ensures a carefree sense of taste.

Correct use of the tongue scraper

In theory, you could clean the tongue with a toothbrush. However, this is too high and, when it hits the suppository in the throat, triggers a gagging reflex in many people at a certain point. Therefore, extra-flat tongue scrapers were developed, which gently and effectively loosen and remove the upper layer of the rubber with nubs and lamellae.

Apply antibacterial toothpaste to the nubs of the tongue scraper, stick out your tongue and apply the tongue cleaner to the highest point on the back of your tongue that you can see. Then gently pull the scraper towards the tip of your tongue. Be thorough, but at the same time please be careful not to injure the tongue when cleaning as small lesions could allow harmful bacteria to enter the bloodstream. We recommend daily use after normal brushing and flossing between the teeth.

By the way, tongue cleaning is not a newfangled invention of the western world. It has been practiced in Asia for centuries.

Other Tongue Cleaning Methods

Kill the germs on the tongue with herbal tinctures sage myrrh thyme. Hard food removes tongue coating mechanically: chewing raw fruit and vegetables or crusts of bread loosens the coating. Other mechanical aids are, for example, tablespoons. However, this method should be used with a great deal of caution, since the sharp edges of the spoon can injure the tongue. For professional tongue cleaning, many dentists now offer so-called tongue suckers as an alternative.

Is tongue coating always harmless?

Usually the plaque is not a cause for concern. But it can also be a sign of certain diseases. If you experience symptoms such as a burning tongue, fever or a general feeling of illness over a longer period of time, it is better to have this clarified by a doctor.