When you brush your teeth, do you make sure to get your tongue as well?
I do. I go as far back as possible and do the sides too. Not underneath, though; that just feels weird!
Female, 26. Been doing it for many years, don’t know why or when I started.
How about you?
Yep. Well, most of the time. Don’t like the white pasty look of unbrushed tongues.
Yes, been doing it since I saw some video on oral care in elementary school. Now my mouth still feels dirty if I brush but neglect my tongue.
Though sometimes I wonder if my whitening toothpaste could be bleaching my tongue…
Yep. Front, back and sides.
Yep I sure do. Just the top and as far back as possible. I’ve been doing it since someone told be how many nasties live on your tongue. As an experiement, he told be to touch the very back of my tongue with my finger and then smell it (gross I know). If you don’t brush your tongue, give that a try - I’ll bet you start brushing your tongue if you do.
Yes.
Yes I do, but I remember that I didn’t when I was younger. If I don’t do it now my mouth feels dirty.
Yep. And, the ladies lurv me for it.
Yes, the old tongue can have a nasty taste in the morning.
Me too. And the roof of my mouth as well.
YES! Tongues are so cool! Brushing the tongue is the best part of the whole tooth-brushing experience!
Nope. I do not.
Maybe I’ll start.
Hell yes, and taught my kids to finish up the tooth-brushing process with a good tongue brushing. I read somewhere about all of the plaque and nasties that call the tongue home, as well as it being a chief cause of halitosis. Been brushing it without fail ever since.
If my mouth is feeling foul, yep, but of late it hasn’t. I switched to Biotine toothpaste and while I’m sure it is not a miracle cure for halitosis, it clearly is the right thing for some people. My mouth has felt MUCH nicer since I started using it, and no more nasty coated tongue.
I’ve been brushing my tongue as far back as I can remember. It’s a trick I picked up from my father. Recently I’ve been scraping my tongue as well with one of those new-fangled $2 plastic tongue-scrapers. Unlike with a toothbrush, you can get the very back of the tongue without gagging yourself.
Brush and scrape the 'ol tongue.
I scrape. Don’t like the sensation of brushing my tongue, and it seems more effective. It’s a real must after eating ice cream, pepperoni pizza, or anything else that leaves a film on my mouth. Also when I have post-nasal drip.
Yes, I can’t imagine why anyone would clean their teeth and leave their tongue all manky.
I’ve been tongue-brushing since approximately 1977, when an episode of Happy Days listed it as an item on a pre-date checklist that Fonzie prepared for Richie. (Richie pulled a face indicating surprise and disgust, but who are you going to emulate when you’re seven years old? The Fonz, or whiny little Opie Cunningham? Duh.)
My dad taught me to do that years ago. I thought he was insane (he’s my dad, after all–it’s in the job description) but I tried it once out of curiosity, and now I feel like my mouth is really nasty if I don’t do it. My husband uses the tongue scraper, but for some reason that grosses me out. We’ve taught our 5 1/2 year old and 3 year old to brush their tongues too.
In the evening, yes, but not in the morning. For some reason, the gag reflex is pretty powerful in the a.m.