Brush Your Tongue

In your daily oral care routine, do you clean your tongue? If not, you may want to keep reading! Dr. Kevin S. Midkiff, DDS is dedicated to providing the best oral care for his patients in our Lynchburg, VA family dental practice. This is why we want to let you in on why you should be brushing your tongue!

Your tongue is filled with tiny hair-like structures called papillae. These are what allow you to taste! Since they are tiny and hair-like, bacteria can become trapped in them rather easily. Food, drinks, and even saliva can contribute to this. So, just like how brushing your teeth is important, cleaning your tongue is, too!

The tongue can be cleaned very easily. There are tongue scrapers you can buy at the store; however, your toothbrush works well, too. Take your toothbrush (or the tongue scraper), and place it on the back of your tongue. Firmly, but gently, run the toothbrush down your tongue to the tip. Do not press so hard that you hurt your tongue. Just firm enough to remove some of the build-up. Do this several times, cleaning the toothbrush after each time. When your tongue is clean, you are finished!

Remember to clean your tongue can be easy when you do it along with brushing your teeth. To set up your cleaning with Dr. Kevin S. Midkiff, DDS in our Lynchburg, VA family dentistry call us at (434) 239-8133 or visit our website, www.kevinmidkiffdds.com.