A medical consultant has stressed the importance of brushing the tongue properly.
The Oral Medical Consultant, Dr Otakhoigbogie Uwaila advised Nigerians to brush their tongue thoroughly.
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Uwaila said that an unclean tongue is the major cause of mouth odour. His position is against the general knowledge that an unclean tooth is a cause.
He explained that brushing the tongue properly should be a regular part of daily oral care.
Uwaila who is also a consultant with the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, said, Nigerians should embrace washing their mouth before going to bed.
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He said, “Majority of the bad breath that people have doesn’t really come from the teeth as it were, it comes from the tongue.
“The posterior aspect of the tongue is like a towel that you use to dry yourself when you take your bath. Those areas harbour a lot of microorganisms.
“Some people brushing their mouth don’t remember to brush their tongue and because of that, those microorganisms release these gases and these gases come out as bad breath so once you brush your teeth always make sure that you brush your tongue.
“You do that twice a day usually the last thing before you go to bed and you must know why you do that before you go to bed.”
The Medicine consultant explained why it is important to brush the mouth before going to bed.
He explained, “During the night, the saliva flow and production is reduced. The microorganisms have time to do their damage but once you have reduced the load of microorganisms, they are few to even do anything over the night.
“In the morning when you wake up and your saliva flow returns to normal, you’d feel your breath will be fresh because the saliva has a cleaning effect.”
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Uwaila also advised that people should visit the dentist at least twice every year. He added that Nigerians should include flossing in their dental regimen.
“Even if you brush you cannot be so efficient at your brushing. At some point, there are some things you could skip.
“Some people don’t even know that they are supposed to floss. They don’t even know what that means. Brushing only just removes the problems on the surface of the teeth but in between the teeth, it is flossing that does that, not even brushing,” he said
Source: PUNCH HealthWise
