On the occasion of his last meeting in Paris, the Association of French Dentists recommends not cleaning the tongue: according to new data, this can jeopardize the natural balance of the microflora of the oral cavity.

The tongue is an important organ consisting of 17 muscles and covered with "good bacteria", supporting the health of the oral cavity. Normally, the language is self-cleaning due to saliva, which is swallowed an average of 1,000 to 2,000 times a day.

According to French experts, "regular cleaning of a healthy language is a commercially incited habit, which in fact is a mistake, as it can change the surface of the tongue and disrupt the balance of friendly bacteria that also colonize the human digestive tract". As explained by ADF member Sophie-Miriam Drydy, who works at the University Hospital of Nice, about 700 bacteria that live in the mouth and on the surface of the tongue in particular play an important role:

they help digest food, synthesize vitamins and reduce the risk of colonization of the mouth by pathogens, tightly covering the tongue and the oral mucosa.

On the other hand, the French Union for Oral Hygiene (UFSBD) recommends cleaning the tongue immediately after brushing the teeth with a very soft brush. Indeed, a moderate, non-intensive cleaning can be useful if the tongue is covered with whitish bloom, usually with a decrease in salivation. The latter phenomenon can be associated with taking medication.

Source: News Yu.

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