New dental hygiene products seem to be constantly entering the market. When they do, you may find yourself curious about whether or not these innovations would be necessary or helpful additions to your routine. As for cleaning your tongue, you probably already know it’s a good idea to brush your tongue, or use the rubber side built onto many toothbrush heads to clean it each time you brush. But, there is another tool available intended to aid your oral health: the tongue scraper. In today’s blog, your Conroe, TX, dentist will lay out the facts about tongue scraping so that you can decide if it is right for you.
What Do Tongue Scrapers Do?
Tongue scrapers are used to scrape the coating off of your tongue for two main purposes:
- To reduce the amount of cavity and gingivitis causing bacteria present in your mouth to prevent you from needing restorative care and
- To scrape off the VSCs (volatile sulfur compounds) that stay on your tongue and cause bad breath.
While these are both great goals in terms of your overall oral health, the results of changing your habits to include a tongue scraper are varied.
Do They Give Good Results?
Unfortunately, the results of using a tongue scraper have not been studied very thoroughly. The few studies that have been conducted have often had very few participants, meaning that the results are not necessarily representative of the truth. Others have had results that contradict each other, such as one saying that tongue scraping or brushing does not reduce bacteria, one saying that tongue brushing reduces bacteria while scraping does not, and one saying that tongue brushing and scraping both help to reduce bacteria in the mouths of children. As for reducing VSCs, some studies found that tongue scraping helps a bit, but the results were largely inconclusive.
Are There Potential Dangers?
So, the results are pretty up in the air about whether or not tongue scrapers are beneficial. However, luckily for those who want to try them out, they are not usually harmful. Tongue scraping should be safe and painless, so, if you experience pain while using a tongue scraper, something is wrong. If this happens, you should immediately stop using the scraper, as it may have a defect like a sharp or jagged edge causing you pain, and you should contact your dentist. It is possible that you may also have a condition that is causing your tongue to react poorly and be more sensitive to tongue scraping, which your dentist can help you figure out. Otherwise, you should be totally fine if you want to try out tongue scraping as a potentially beneficial part of your usual oral health routine.
If You Have More Questions, Ask Us!
If you have questions about adding new steps to your oral health routine, like tongue scraping, or if you are due for a cleaning and checkup, contact the Dental Centre of Conroe to schedule a visit by calling (936) 441-4600. We serve patients from Conroe, TX, and the neighboring communities.
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