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If you’re not using a tongue scraper after you brush your teeth, you might be missing out on a tool that’ll help your tongue and mouth feel cleaner — especially if you drink a lot of coffee, smoke or consume a lot of spices.
“A tongue scraper is a device used to clean the papillae, the tiny raised bumps on the top of the tongue that contain taste buds,” Dr. Azadeh Akhavan, a New York City-based dentist whose practice emphasizes preventative and holistic care, told HuffPost over email.
Some people have longer papillae than others, according to Akhavan, and long papillae can not only pick up stains but also contribute to bad breath. “Heavy coffee drinkers or smokers with long papillae often exhibit a brown tinge on the surface of their tongue... Besides picking up stains, long papillae can also encourage bacteria that cause bad breath,” Akhavan explained.
Althouth Akhaven cautioned that a tongue scraper won’t remove sources of bad breath entirely, she explained that tongue scraping may lessen bad breath — also known as halitosis — by helping remove bacteria from the tongue. She recommended the Dr. Tung’s stainless tongue cleaner for folks interested in adding a scraper to their routine. “It is comfortable to grip, durable and reasonably priced,” she wrote. “In general, stainless steel feels better on the tongue than plastic.”
“The main sources of bad breath are periodontal disease (bacteria under the gums which cause inflammation and bone loss), postnasal drip and digestive issues — issues that you should consult your dentist or doctor about,” Akhavan added. “However, tongue scraping may help to reduce bacteria, particularly for those with long papillae, and so it may mitigate some halitosis.”
In addition, she said, scrapers can remove some stains from the surface of the tongue.
The Dr. Tung’s scraper was designed by a dentist, and Amazon reviewers rave about its results, saying that it made their mouth feel cleaner, improved their breath and even made food taste better. One reviewer wrote that until using the scraper, they never knew what tap water tasted like — or a slew of other foods like milk, bananas, tofu and breath mints. “It was like my tastebuds were a newborn’s,” wrote another Amazon reviewer.
You can shop the Dr. Tung’s tongue scraper at Amazon or Walmart. And if you’re interested in other options, we’ve rounded up a few other tongue scrapers worth checking out, including a disposable version for traveling and a gentler plastic version that I use every day.
It's available in packs of one, two or three. Walmart also offers this scraper in a dual-headed style so your tongue gets twice the scrape with each swipe.
This is also surprisingly sturdy for such a lightweight item. Amazon reviewers seem to agree with me: “I used this tongue cleaner for longer than I would like to admit because it stood up so well over time,” wrote one. “Finally, I decided to replace it, mostly just because it was old, not because it didn't work anymore. I love the option of using a brush and a plastic scraper to clean my tongue… This set of tongue cleaners might last me the rest of my life.”
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