 Hello, everybody. Andrea here with dental L. In the video today, I want to talk to you guys about tongue cleaners. There are different types of tongue cleaners. Some are better than others, and why you might want to start cleaning your tongue. A lot of patients ask me what they can do to really keep their mouth as clean as possible, and adding basically a tongue cleaner into your daily or twice a day oral care routine can really help things. It can keep the mouth a lot cleaner. It limits the bacteria in the mouth, and if bad breath is something you're concerned about, this can help with that. So let me show you guys the different types first. So this tongue cleaner is actually, I would say, the easiest one to use, and will actually clean your tongue a lot better than the other ones out there. I know it looks pretty intense. It's typically a stainless steel tongue cleaner, but what I like about this one is you can get as far back as possible. I mean, you don't have to hurt yourself or anything, but what you want to do is get as far back as possible first and then move it towards the tip of the tongue, and then you will actually see that, you know, plaque, the bacteria, you know, food, anything that's kind of stuck on your tongue will come off. You'll be pretty amazed actually what comes off the tongue. It could be any color. It just depends on what you were eating that day. It depends on the consistency of your saliva, but clean your tongue several times. So if you do it once, start from the back and then move to the front, and then you will see all of that stuff come off. It typically stays along this, you know, stainless steel area here. You just have to rinse it under the sink and then do it again. I would do it at least three to five times because more and more will come off. There will always be a little bit left on the tongue, but you want to get off as much as possible, right? I suggest cleaning the tongue first. So there's no wrong way to do it. So if you decide to clean your tongue last, that's okay too. But why I say to do it first is because you're loosening up everything. And then if you use your toothbrush after that, you're basically brushing off anything from the teeth that might have been there from before. So you could brush your tongue as well if you want to, but a tongue cleaner just really helps to get right in there. Thing with cleaning in between the teeth. So I really like to use a water pick. I can leave a link for you guys down below, which one I like to use. I just ordered from Amazon, easy. But what I like to do is if I'm using the tongue cleaner, I'm going to use the tongue cleaner first, then I'm going to use the water pick afterwards to clean in between the teeth. And then I use my toothbrush after that. You could use a mouthwash at the end if you want to, but I'll talk more about that later for the video here. I'm just going to focus on tongue cleaners mainly. So moving on to the next one. Here's the other one you could use. So if your child is using a tongue cleaner, I would suggest using this one because it doesn't look as intense for them. And of course, it would be easier to use. So let me just flip back to this one. Notice how this one is stainless steel. It's larger. You can pretty much move it however you want. This one here, you would just have to go over it a couple times because you won't be able to get the whole tongue. So you might want to brush the sides of the tongue and then the middle here a few times and then the sides. Your child, just kind of let them know to go as far back as they can, but not to make them uncomfortable. So don't go too far back, but the further back they can go, that will just help to clean the tongue even more. Or if they just like to clean the tip of their tongue, that is okay too, but it's a good thing to get them used to. Of course, you might be looking at this and thinking you would much prefer to use this one and that is okay. Basically use the tongue cleaner that you're more comfortable using. I like this one just because you can get the whole tongue at the same time and you can technically clean it easier too. Like I would put the tongue cleaner in the dishwasher once a week, not that you have to, or at the very least, I would wash it with soap and water. This one you can wash too, of course, and probably put it in the dishwasher kind of like a toothbrush, but I just feel like the stainless steel one might be easier to clean. But giving this to a child, they just might not want to do it, but picking maybe a fun color, that will be easier for them or for you as well. So just keep in mind that you should be using a tongue cleaner every day, but basically whenever you want to use it is up to you. I like to use it first and then the water pick or just any way to clean in between the teeth and then I would brush after that. This is just kind of a different image that I wanted to show you guys. So this is the tongue here. The part you see in the mouth would be just kind of right here. These are your like tonsillar areas, so it might look kind of strange to you, but the reason why I'm showing you this is look at all the different areas of the tongue that you have. People have no idea. So all of these different papilla, that's just basically what's holding on to that bacteria. So you have some way in the back here. Your tongue cleaner, you probably can't get it that far back, but do the best you can. But then you have papilla on the side of the tongue, sort of the lateral surfaces of the tongue, and then the tip of the tongue too. So this was just something to kind of show you guys. But I hope that helps answer your questions about tongue cleaners. I can leave some links for you as well. Down below of tongue cleaners that I would purchase just from Amazon, so it's super simple. And if you guys have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know. And I'll see you guys in the next video.