Standing in front of the mirror, toothbrush in hand, you hesitate to refine your cleaning with a detour on the tongue. All using the bristles of your toothbrush of course. Is this gesture part of the winning habits for impeccable oral health or is it totally futile? This seemingly trivial question leads to a Norman answer. Yes, sometimes brushing your tongue helps, but sometimes it doesn't, it depends. The only unshakable certainty is this: under no circumstances should tongue brushing be done with the bristles of your toothbrush.
Dr Christophe Lequart, dental surgeon and spokesperson for the UFSBD, provides us with detailed explanations to these sketches of pre-chewed answers.
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Brush your tongue: to find out if you need it, stick your tongue out!
To find out if you are a good candidate for lingual brushing, stand in front of a mirror and stick out your tongue…. Is it pink or white? If it is pink, you can do without brushing your tongue. If, on the contrary, it is white, this gesture can be useful occasionally but not daily. “Tongue brushing should not be systematic, it is only done in one case: when the surface of the tongue has a whitish deposit“, explains Dr. Christophe Lequart, dental surgeon and spokesperson for the French Oral Health Union (UFSBD). This white coating is composed of bacteria from food debris and saliva.
What is the risk of keeping one's tongue white? “This deposit is often responsible for bad breath (halitosis), because it is composed of bacteria which synthesize volatile sulfur compounds which trigger these bad odors”. Cleaning the tongue is therefore recommended to dislodge these bacteria, clear the area and get rid of malodorous odors.
Read also> My tongue is completely white, should I be worried?
Brush your tongue: never with the bristles of your toothbrush
If you have a white tongue (and you want to avoid bad breath), you can carry out regular lingual cleaning. But be careful not to use the bristles of your toothbrush. Dr. Lequart explains why this is a bad idea: “even if the bristles of your toothbrush are soft, they can create microlesions on the surface of the tongue. Anaerobic bacteria (which proliferate without oxygen) responsible for bad breath will then rush in and develop.
If bristles are to be banned, certain toothbrushes still win the favor of our expert: those which present “a silicone surface on the back of the toothbrush (on the other side of the hair implantation) allow cleaning the surface of the tongue and the mucous membranes.
Another option for cleaning your tongue: resort to a tongue scraperan accessory designed to clean the tongue without damaging it, “made of metal or plastic”. It is used from back to front to remove deposits accumulated on the tongue.
Finally, in addition to brushing your teeth and tongue, you should not neglect hydration, especially when you are prone to bad breath (halitosis). Having a dry mouth promotes bad mouth odor. This also explains why we complain of having foul breath in the morning: the salivary glands were at rest during the night and the mouth is less lubricated.
Thanks to Dr Christophe Lequart, dental surgeon and spokesperson for the UFSBD. www.mabouchemasante.fr
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