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Of all my insecurities (and I’ll admit there are a few), I’m most afraid that I have bad breath. If I do, no kind soul has mustered the tough love to tell me yet. And now—phew—they may never have to. A pal at work recently dished about the many tongue scraper benefits, including the Ayurvedic tool’s ability to banish bad breath with just a scrape of its blunt metal blade. Dentists, too, can’t stop raving about the gizmo.
“Your tongue should be taken care of just like showering your body or shampooing your hair,” says New York City-based dentist Alex Rubinov, DDS. “Bacteria and debris accumulate on your tongue, gradually leading to bad breath and a negative impact on your body.” The C-curved metal edge rids the tongue of a fair amount of said bacteria and (full body shivers) “debris” that would otherwise end up in your digestive tract, and—potentially—make you sick, too.
No longer: the tongue scraper will set you back a mere $3. Or, if you’re feeling especially thrifty and frugal, you can use the edge of a silver spoon instead.
As for when to use it, Dr. Rubinov recommends whipping out the tool first thing before soldiering on with the rest of your oral hygiene routine. “I recommend scraping your tongue while you still have toothpaste on it to give you the antimicrobial effect, and to leave you with the freshest breath possible,” he explains. And I don’t think I need to say this, but just in case: make sure you’re washing your tongue scraper often.
Pretty soon you—like everyone else who’s discovered the nifty scraper—will be too tongue-tied by love to aptly articulate its bad breath-fighting superpowers.
Listen up for the most common mistakes that dentists see. Including, do you really need to floss?
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