Many people think that their brush bristles and flossing wire are enough to keep their mouth clean. If you are one of them, then remember that “You are cleaning just 1/20 of your mouth”. Dental researches reveal that around 700 different species of bacteria living in our mouth.
It makes all the components inside our mouth like cheek, gums and others prone to bacterial attack. Tongue is not an exception in that risk of infection.
Tongue plays a major role in our daily lives. Without the muscular organ, we can’t speak or taste and swallow the things we eat. As our tongue frequently communicates with the things we introduce to our mouth, the chances are higher for the bacteria in such items settle on the tongue surfaces and influence the muscular organ.
How do bacteria affect our tongue?
The tongue is formed with a group of muscles and each muscle is assigned to a different task. The muscle in the tip of the tongue is responsible for moving the food from the front end to the back of the tongue. It also helps in pronouncing the letters. Likewise, muscles at the end of the tongue play a crucial role in making hard sounds of speech.
Typically, the tongue surfaces are covered with papillae. The papillae consist of tiny holes with which the food debris, dead cells and bacteria in the mouth get deposited as the microbes clung between the teeth.
If you clean your teeth and leave the tongue, the bacterial accumulation and breeding will continue. Later it will develop as plaque and tartar over the tongue. It causes tongue discoloration, bad breath and other dental disorders.
How does tongue cleaning benefit us?
Adding tongue cleaning as a part of our dental care routine will benefit you in an immense manner. Some of them are listed as follows:
1) Assure your mouth free of infection
You know that bacteria build up is the base reason for all dental diseases. By extracting such harmful and disease-causing microbes from the mouth, you can avert the chances of getting affected by various oral complications through your tongue.
2) Improves the sense of taste
The taste buds present in the upper surface of the tongue may be blocked if the microbes are gathered on the tongue. It makes you feel difficult in perceiving tastes. Cleaning tongue will remove the bacteria and in turn, open the biofilm that covers the taste buds.
3) Prevent Tongue Discoloration
You might see the tongue with white patches, black and yellow colored tongue. It also results due to bacterial accumulation. If you indulge in activities to clean tongue, you can easily restore the natural pink color tongue.
4) Inhibit Gum diseases
As mentioned earlier, the presence of bacteria in our mouth persists if the tongue is not cleaned. Bacterial build up in the tongue begins to transmit to the other oral regions. It put our gums at risk of infection and cause periodontal diseases.
5) Reduce Bad breath
Similar to the plaque build up, bacteria in the biofilm over the tongue also causes halitosis (Bad Breath). Tongue cleaning also empowers you to control the nasty smell coming from the mouth.
Besides helping us to speak, eat and chew foods, tongue will become a host where bacteria and other microorganisms in the mouth lodge and breed if you do not take care of the muscular organ.
Hence we recommend don’t forget to clean your tongue when you brush and floss. Reserve a space for tongue scraper or tongue cleaner along with toothbrush in your kit.
