Coated Tongue and Bad Breath

                

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Look at yourself in the mirror and stick out your tongue - do you have a coated tongue and bad breath? Many people who suffer from bad breath (halitosis) have a visible white coating on the back of the tongue. Even if you don't see anything, you do have a coating, sometimes referred to as a biofilm, on your tongue made up of myriad different microscopic organisms, the remnants of food and body cells, and a noncellular matrix that holds it all together.

Some of the organisms living on your tongue are potential pathogens - organisms that can cause infection and halitosis, in fact, the tongue is the site of the greatest number of microorganisms living in the mouth. This is why it is so beneficial to use a tongue cleaner to remove the biofilm, particularly if you have a visibly coated tongue and bad breath. Studies have shown that regular physical removal of the coating brings about a significant reduction in numbers of pathogenic bacteria in the mouth, and in the degree of halitosis.

Physical tongue cleaning will be more effective against your bad breath coated tongue and oral microorganisms because the noncellular matrix of the biofilm actually protects the organisms within it from mouthwashes, natural immune cells and the cleaning action of saliva - think of a firm jelly-like substance enclosing everything in a thin impermeable layer. A good tongue cleaner or tongue scraper gets past the barrier of the matrix by just scraping it all away and alleviating the coated tongue and bad breath. Meanwhile, lower layers that become exposed will be vulnerable to antibacterial substances in the mouth such as saliva or mouthwash while the biofilm is reestablishing itself.

And it will reestablish itself - no tongue cleaner or antibacterial product will ever completely eradicate the unwelcome organisms in your mouth that are causing bad breath coated tongue and even periodontal disease. It is possible, however to keep the numbers of these organism down with a regular program of good oral hygiene including tongue scraping and the use of a mouthwash that targets the bacteria that cause a heavily coated tongue and bad breath.

R. Drysdale is a freelance writer with more than 25 years experience as a health care professional. She is a contributing editor to Coated Tongue and Bad Breath, a blog dedicated to the treatment of bad breath.