Tongue scraping has been around a long, long time. You may have heard the activity of scraping your tongue can reduce bad breath, and even bring balance to your digestive system. In this article, we’ll explore if this activity is necessary for a healthy mouth, or a hoax.
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The tongue
Your tongue is a muscle, and it is part of one the first stages of digestion, as it’s in your mouth. The tongue helps to move food around, to chew, swallow, and to form sounds and words (1). Your tongue also has taste buds, which help you experience the rich flavours of your food.
What is tongue scraping?
Tongue scraping is the act of removing particles from the top of your tongue with a special tool (like this one) – usually metal or plastic, and curved. It is reported that tongue scraping has been around for centuries, and utilised regularly in many cultures (2).
If you are following an Ayurvedic lifestyle, you may already be tongue scraping, as this act is an essential part of everyday health in Ayurveda, according to many dentistry websites. While I find the Ayurvedic lifestyle and diet practices to be far too restrictive for most people, there are certainly some practices that have positive implications on everyday health wellness, and tongue scraping may just be one of them
Are there benefits to tongue scraping?
Apparently, there are many benefits to tongue scraping. Let’s dive in.
Bad breath (halitosis)
Halitosis is bad breath, and supposedly tongue scraping can help with that, and is the number one reason why most people begin tongue scraping, at least in the western world. Bad breath, or halitosis, can be caused by many different things, some of them being tonsillitis, sinusitis, or other respiratory tract infections (3), but many individuals have no underlying disease to blame for the cause of bad breath – sorry friend! It’s just you. (kidding :P)
Mouthwash or zinc toothpaste has been shown to be effective when used regularly. Now, there was one study looking at mouthwash and a mouthwash + tongue scraping group, however the evidence was low quality (3), and the results were not reported… so not helpful.
In another study, the investigator found that mouthwash did not help with halitosis, but tongue scraping + the use of implanted probiotics on the tongue did, even after cessation of the treatment (4). Now, when treatments stop (like mouthwash, toothpaste, tongue scraping), typically a return of halitosis occurs, but not with the probiotic implantation. Interesting.
In a study with 60 participants (5), it was found that tooth brushing + mouthwash + tongue scraping reduced the amount of particles that cause bad breath.
A systematic review found that there is potential for tongue scraping to lessen odourous breath, but there was insufficient evidence to say that tongue scraping helped with halitosis, or chronic bad breath (6).
Improved gut health
Gut health and digestive health is the main reason I started looking into tongue cleaning. I saw on a random wellness blogger’s page, that tongue scraping helps with digestive issues. This blogger has no credible licenses or certifications – which does NOT mean she is providing incorrect information – so naturally, I had to investigate the claims.
I could only find one research study in gut health and tongue scraping! And the results were not promising. The investigators had volunteers self-report their symptoms and perceived improvement in digestive health after tongue scraping for 4 weeks. They did find that some of the volunteers reported improvement in constipation (10), but it was not reported by all volunteers. Could there have been a placebo effect? Yes. Could tongue scraping actually help alleviate constipation? Maybe. More research needs to be done.
While oral bacteria from the tongue can travel to the intestines where intestinal bacteria are present (remember, not all bacteria in the body is bad), it still remains unclear what kind of relationship these two areas play with one another (11).
Plaque & Bacteria
One study found that children who used tongue scraping or tongue brushing along with tooth brushing had significantly reduced plaque levels after 10 days and 21 days compared with just tooth brushing (7).
However, in an adult study, it was found that tongue cleaning did not reduce plaque levels even though it did reduce bacteria levels on the tongue (9).
And, a study looking at the bacterial load on the surface of the tongue found that those who brushed their teeth, and utilised tongue scraping, had significant reductions in baseline bacteria on the tongue after day 4 compared to tooth brushing only control group, and even compared to the addition of mouthwash intervention group (8).
Are there risks to tongue scraping?
Stimulating the gag reflex
If you scrape too far back you can stimulate your gag reflex, which can be uncomfortable.
Cutting your tongue
If you scrape too hard, you may end up cutting your tongue, or even damaging your taste buds.
What can i use to scrape my tongue?
You can buy tongue scrapers made of metal or plastic at an affordable price from many outlets. You can even use a spoon! You can find the tongue scraper I personally use here.
Is tongue scraping something I should do everyday?
Based on my research, I’d say it’s up to you.
But, I have to admit, all these years I thought tongue scraping was an extra unnecessary step in a daily routine. How can something with the word “scrape” in it be good?! Well, I am officially a convert. Just the feeling of ridding my mouth of the fuzzy feeling, and scraping the extra particles off my tongue first thing in the morning makes me feel fresh and alive. It’s safe to say, I’ll never go back to not scraping my tongue.
Now, my main interest in starting tongue scraping had to do with digestive issues. I have chronic issues with digestion and gut health, and it’s safe to say I’ll try anything (within reason) to optimise my digestive health. As mentioned above there is NOT ENOUGH documented evidence to suggest tongue scraping can aid in digestion, and after practicing tongue scraping for 3 months, I have NOT seen or felt a difference in my gut.
Bottom line
It’s important to note there really was not a lot of evidence, and some of it was conflicting when it came to the benefits of tongue scraping.
Bacteria on the tongue and in the oral cavity is not always bad, but some overgrowth, or excessive bacteria that causes harm may be related to an underlying illness, which tongue scraping wouldn’t cure.
There is not enough evidence to say that tongue scraping could improve digestion and gut health. More research is needed.
References:
- Du Toit, D. F. “The tongue: structure and function relevant to disease and oral health.” SADJ: journal of the South African Dental Association= tydskrif van die Suid-Afrikaanse Tandheelkundige Vereniging 58.9 (2003): 375-6.
- Christen, Arden G., and Ben Z. Swanson Jr. “Oral hygiene: a history of tongue scraping and brushing.” The Journal of the American Dental Association 96.2 (1978): 215-219.
- Scully, Crispian. “Halitosis.” BMJ Clinical Evidence 2014 (2014).
- Gurpinar, Berk, et al. “A simple method to reduce halitosis; tongue scraping with probiotics.” Journal of Breath Research 14.1 (2019): 016008.
- Dudzik, Agata, et al. “Efficacy of a Zinc Lactate Mouthwash and Tongue Scraping in the Reduction of Intra-Oral Halitosis: A Single-blind, Controlled, Crossover Clinical Trial—A Pilot Study.” Journal of Clinical Medicine 10.23 (2021): 5532.
- Van der Sleen, M. I., et al. “Effectiveness of mechanical tongue cleaning on breath odour and tongue coating: a systematic review.” International journal of dental hygiene 8.4 (2010): 258-268.
- Winnier, J. Jasmin, et al. “The comparative evaluation of the effects of tongue cleaning on existing plaque levels in children.” International journal of clinical pediatric dentistry 6.3 (2013): 188.
- Bordas, Alice, et al. “Impact of different tongue cleaning methods on the bacterial load of the tongue dorsum.” Archives of oral biology 53 (2008): S13-S18.
- Matsui, Miki, et al. “Effects of tongue cleaning on bacterial flora in tongue coating and dental plaque: a crossover study.” BMC oral health 14.1 (2014): 1-8.
- Tokinobu, Akiko, et al. “Effects of tongue cleaning on Ayurvedic digestive power and oral health-related quality of life: A randomized cross-over study.” Complementary Therapies in Medicine 36 (2018): 9-13.
- Li, Yiwen, et al. “Oral, tongue-coating microbiota, and metabolic disorders: a novel area of interactive research.” Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (2021): 922.
