Importance of Tongue Cleaning

Tongue cleaning is one of the most overlooked dental hygiene practices. The matter of fact is that this oral hygiene practice is highly important not only for your mouth but also for your entire body. So, it is quite important to balance the oral flora. By maintaining good microbial balance in the mouth, you can ensure better health of your entire body. The reason is that mouth is the starting point of out gut.

In this article, we are going to discuss the importance of cleaning your tongue and the impact of tongue cleaning on oral and overall health.

Every disease starts from the gut

According to the findings by scientists, gut acts like a reservoir of the microbes which can cause inflammation in any part of the body.

Even tens of centuries ago, people had found out that “All disease begins in the gut”. Therefore, if your gut is not healthy, it is impossible for your body to be healthy.

According to the research, oral microbes can perpetuate and aggravate gut inflammation. If this inflammation is left untreated, it can lead to several health disorders such as leaky gut, bowel disease, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

Mouth is the beginning

Mouth is the beginning of the digestive tract. When you eat food, you break it down into pieces by chewing it. It is mixed with saliva and then the food travels through the throat into the stomach. Stomach, spleen and pancreas create energy by digesting the foods and small intestines absorb nutrients from the leftover of foods. The remaining waste is then excreted out through large intestine.

It is worth mentioning here that 80% of the immune system is associated with the functions of our gut. And mouth is the beginning of this gut. It means that anything that you do to maintain your oral health actually helps you maintain the health of your gut. And so, you are going to find oil pulling as one of the best practices to maintain the health of your gut.

However, things can get worse if you do not take good care of your mouth. The bad bacteria can travel down to the gut and cause inflammation.

Cleaning of your tongue

Klebsiella is the type of bacteria that can thrive in the areas with low oxygen. When you do not clean your tongue, a layer is formed over the tongue. Under this layer, klebsiella can grow in a drastic manner. Therefore, you need to make sure that you are cleaning your tongue on daily basis.

The cleaning of tongue is quite easy. You just have to use a tongue scrapper. The daily use of tongue scrapper can help you clean your tongue nicely. If you are not comfortable using tongue scrapper, you can consider brushing your tongue with the brush while brushing your teeth.

Healthy tongue, healthy life!

Words are stronger than anything in the world as they can penetrate ones spirit. You can have the largest army, the strongest most advanced and highly sophisticated weaponry but if you can’t control the words rolling out of your tongue you can’t control anything. Tongue is one of the most delicate muscle in the body but it is the key to ones personality, you can tell a lot about a person from the food he/she eats and they way he/she eats it. What create variation in food possible are the taste buds on the tongue. Your taste in food makes or breaks your day; it also makes or breaks your personality and life. Taste buds are only on the top layer of the tongue, what makes it properly work are all the eight muscles working together. It helps you taste, it helps you swallow and it helps you talk.

Certain physical changes may occur on tongue that might cause nervousness as to what those changes may refer to. However there might also be certain condition that might go unnoticed. A physician’s complete checkup of the body involves the checkup of tongue as it tells a lot about what is going on your body. Some of the observation might require further monitoring and evaluation.

Tongue is covered with around 10,000 small nodules called papillae which have taste buds on top of them, when healthy these are pink in color. They are replaced every two weeks and the color pigmentation can tell a lot about one health condition. Few changes in the color of tongue are as follows:

White tongue

Usually a white tongue is nothing to worry about however this might also be a symptom that might be a warning a serious condition that might be an infection or even sign of cancer developing in your body. The white pigmentation is due to the inflammation of papillae, what turn the generally pink papillae into white is bacteria, fungi, food or dead cells stuck between the inflamed papillae.

You might have thickened white patches on your tongue which is sign of Leukoplakia, although most leukoplakia patches are non-cancerous, however some of these are also associated with signs of cancer. Yeast infection can also lead to thick white patches on the tongue known as Oral Thrush; this is generally developed in new born babies and in elderly people.  Sometimes you tongue can develop interlaced white lines due a condition known as Lichen Planus, although its cause is unclear but it can generally be cured by improving oral hygiene or eliminating certain food.

The tongue has a pinkish color but if it is turning red then you must have to consult the required doctor.

The tongue with vitamin deficiency:

If you see your tongue and its colour is changing to red. That’s the time you need to see the doctor. It might be the case of vitamin B12 or folic acid deficiency.

Fever:

 If your tongue is changing colour from pink to red and white and your throat is becoming dry plus you have a high fever, skin have blemished like sunburn. That might be the case of scarlet fever. You need to rush to the doctor and start the course of antibiotics immediately.

Tongue with dots:

One has to see their mouth often when doing the tooth brush. While brushing if you have seen the red dots with lines on the tongue, it might be the symptoms of geographic tongue also known as tongue cancer.

Dehydration:

If your tongue seems white and there is no pink colour left on the tong. That is the indication that the quantity of water that is needed in the body has been desiccated. You much drink ample water to fulfil the requirement of the body.

Tongue with fungus:

People are ignorant of health concerns. Not all of the humans take care of that as required. If you are being ignorant and not doing brush, or mouth wash regularly leaving the oral cavity dirty that might develop serious diseases like cancer,  black hairy tongue, dirty mouth become a safe haven for bacteria and fungus. This will give you bad breadth and sometime chemotherapy is required in case of cancer.

Any unusual change in the body should not be ignored at all. In case of tongue, you can visit your oral health physician or Dentist canton ma.