The taxi driver had a point, perhaps we should be scraping our tongues

The practice of tongue-scraping is more than 6,000 years old but largely unknown in the west. In India it’s as commonplace as flossing. Christine Manby wonders if it’s time we all tried it

(Illustration by Tom Ford)

I recently took a hair-raising taxi ride. I had a feeling it was going to be a good one as I fumbled in my handbag for my mask before getting into the car. “You don’t need that,” the driver told me. He certainly wasn’t going to be putting a mask on himself. “Coronavirus has been blown out of all proportion.”

“Mmm-hmm,” I said. Through my mask. He went on to tell me that he was only driving a taxi that evening for something to do. He was actually a millionaire property developer and his three adult children were a doctor, a dentist and a lawyer. “What does your doctor daughter think of the pandemic?” I asked him.

“I don’t care what she thinks. She doesn’t know anything,” he said. “She’s got two PhDs but she just does what she’s told. I don’t listen to her. I know what’s really going on because I’m a member of a political party.”

“Which one?” I asked.

He declined to say. But he did go on to tell me that if I wanted to avoid catching Covid-19, “which is a hoax anyway”, then I just had to follow some simple rules. Wash my hands, wash my clothes every time I got home, shower before going to bed and as soon as I got up, and clean my teeth “before and after every meal. Even before and after every cup of tea!” And, finally, “scrape your tongue.”

“But you’re more likely to die in this taxi than of coronavirus,” the driver concluded. He wasn’t wrong there. For at least half a mile, he straddled two lanes of a busy dual carriageway, while the driver of the white Range Rover behind us leaned heavily on his horn. I was so glad to get home alive that I could have licked a Covid-covered lamppost but the taxi drivers rant about hygiene did make me wonder. Should we be cleaning our teeth more often in the drive against the virus? And tongue scraping? How might that work?

The condition of the tongue is widely considered to give a good indication of general health. It’s not for nothing that doctors ask you to stick out your tongue and say “aaah”. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the tongue is considered to be an extremely important diagnostic tool, showing up not just physical issues but mental health ones too.

Meanwhile, ayurvedic medicine holds that while we sleep, our body works hard to rid itself of toxins, many of which are excreted via the tongue. These toxins create the slimy, furry coating that gives us “morning breath”. Ayurvedic practitioners stress the importance of removing this coating rather than swallowing it and thus re-ingesting it.

The Oral Health Foundation, in its Covid-19 guide, does not mention tongue-scraping, though it does stress the importance of hygiene – just like my taxi driver

But it’s not enough to give your tongue a quick scrub with a toothbrush. That only moves the toxins around. You need to scrape it off. Yet the practice of tongue-scraping, which is more than 6,000 years old, is still largely unknown in the West. In India, it’s as commonplace a part of the dental hygiene routine as flossing

You need to use a dedicated tongue scraping tool of course – a U-shaped piece of metal. You’ll find tongue scrapers in everything from gold to stainless steel, though copper is considered best. The practice is simple. You stick your tongue out and holding one end of the scraper in each hand, place the rounded part at the back of your tongue, and slowly and gently pull it forward. You must always start at the back, for obvious reasons, and after each scrape, you should clean the scraper to remove any collected gunk before starting again. A couple of passes should be enough.

The immediate benefit is a better-looking tongue, but the hidden benefits are potentially more impressive and may include fresher breath and healthier teeth. It’s believed that using a tongue scraper can even help with weight loss, since by activating the salivary glands, you can improve your digestion and enhance your sense of taste. An enhanced sense of taste helps you to work out what you really want to eat so that you can avoid reaching for the quick fix of junk food.

But how do the claims stack up? In 2005 the College of Dentistry at New York University performed a study to see whether tongue scraping might be effective on a group of 60 adult male patients with tooth decay and gum disease. They found that after seven days of tongue-scraping, patients had lower levels of two lovely-sounding bacteria – mutans streptococci and lactobacilli – which are both known to cause halitosis and caries. The subjects themselves reported an improvement in “oral malodour”, which is never a bad thing.

It’s thought that some 50 per cent of cases of halitosis originate in tongue residue, which is a breeding ground for the sulphur compounds that cause an unpleasant whiff. A 2004 study by the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, found that using a tongue scraper reduced the incidence of those compounds by 75 per cent, compared to brushing the tongue with a soft toothbrush, which only cut the compounds by 45 per cent.

More recent studies have called the Sao Paulo results regarding tongue-scraping’s effectiveness for halitosis into question. But might it stop coronavirus? The Oral Health Foundation, in its Covid-19 guide, does not mention tongue-scraping, though it does stress the importance of hygiene – just like my taxi-driver. It recommends brushing at least twice a day and using interdental brushes or flossing. It also stresses the importance of not sharing a toothbrush, as that’s a great way to spread a virus around (presumably the same goes for sharing tongue scrapers).

Just as vital is always making sure that the loo seat is down before you flush. A toilet-flush has frightening aerosol properties and viruses can be spread in faecal matter. If the lid’s up, you can bet your toothbrush is within range (I hope you’re not reading this with a sandwich in hand. That’s a bad habit too. Eating at your filthy keyboard).

So when it comes to oral hygiene in the west, tongue-scraping still seems a bit niche, with the oral health professionals still preferring brushing, flossing and mouthwash. It seems worth a try though. Tongue scrapers can be had for a fiver after all. If that’s still too high, you could try using a spoon. Though if your tongue is seriously manky, there’s no substitute for seeing a doctor or dentist. Oral thrush, which coats the tongue in white, can be an indicator of uncontrolled diabetes.

Celiac disease can result in a condition called “atrophic glossitis” or “bald tongue”, in which the tiny hairs on the tongue disappear leading to a shiny appearance. Any bump or sore that hangs around for longer than two weeks, should definitely be checked out by a professional. In the meantime, put your toilet lid down and always, always, wear a seatbelt when being driven by a secret property millionaire masquerading as a pandemic-denying taxi driver.