{"id":44,"date":"2022-05-06T17:47:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T17:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/?p=44"},"modified":"2022-06-21T17:49:37","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T17:49:37","slug":"what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Your Tongue Say About Your Oral Health?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg\" alt=\"young woman sticking tongue out\" class=\"wp-image-45\" width=\"301\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 301px) 100vw, 301px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Tongues. We use it every day to taste and speak, not realizing that it can do so much more than that. Did you know that it\u2019s actually one of the biggest indicators of the condition of your oral health? Since it\u2019s linked to many of our vital organs, the different colors, textures, coatings, and shapes of the tongue can give important information regarding our health. By paying closer attention to it, you can better understand what\u2019s going on with your body. Read on to learn more about what your tongue says, and how to clean it properly to maintain good health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Should Your Tongue Look Like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A healthy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/preventive-dentistry.html\">tongue<\/a> is usually pink, although it can vary slightly in dark and light shades. It also has small nodules on the top and bottom that are called papillae. If your tongue ever changes significantly from the normal pink shade you\u2019re used to seeing, something\u2019s amiss. Another symptom of an unhealthy tongue is having noticeable pain while eating, drinking, or swallowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a look at some possible causes of tongue abnormalities based on color:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>White Tongue <\/strong>\u2013 Thick, white patches or lines on the tongue could anything from mild to concerning issues, such as oral thrush, oral lichen planus, and leukoplakia.<\/li><li><strong>Red Tongue <\/strong>\u2013 Your tongue may appear red due to vitamin B deficiencies, Kawasaki disease, and scarlet fever.<\/li><li><strong>Yellow Tongue <\/strong>\u2013 The most common cause of a yellow tongue is bacterial overgrowth. It can also be the result of smoking, chewing tobacco, taking certain vitamins, and psoriasis.<\/li><li><strong>Black and Hairy Tongue <\/strong>\u2013 While this may look concerning, it\u2019s also usually harmless. It\u2019s most commonly the result of bacterial overgrowth. However, other causes may include poor oral hygiene, antibiotics, diabetes, and chemotherapy treatments.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Properly Clean Your Tongue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Although it\u2019s often overlooked, cleaning your tongue is one of the most integral parts of your oral hygiene routine. It helps reduce unwanted mouth bacteria that can lead to bad breath, plaque buildup, and other health conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how to clean your tongue using the following methods:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Tongue Scraper <\/strong>\u2013 Stick out your tongue as far as you can and place the tongue scraper towards the back of it. Press the tool on your tongue and move it toward the front while applying pressure. Then, run the scraper under warm water to eliminate any debris and bacteria. Spit out excess saliva, then repeat the process several times as needed.<\/li><li><strong>A Toothbrush <\/strong>\u2013 Once you have a soft-bristled toothbrush on hand, stick out your tongue as far as possible. Position your toothbrush at the back of the tongue and start brushing lightly, moving forwards and backward along your tongue. Spit out any saliva that appears and rinse the toothbrush with warm water. Repeat as needed.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can see, this small body part can provide great insight into your overall health. If you notice any changes that last more than two weeks, schedule a visit with your dentist in Midlothian right away. They\u2019ll address the root cause and help you stay in optimal health!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the Practice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Long Family Dental, we go above and beyond to treat every patient like a member of our very own family. Our skilled and friendly team enjoys educating patients to help them make confident and informed decisions for their oral health. If you\u2019ve noticed any abnormalities on your tongue, don\u2019t hesitate to reach out for an exam. You can make an appointment via our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/contact-us.html\">website<\/a> or call <strong>(972) 775-3192<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tongues. We use it every day to taste and speak, not realizing that it can do so much more than that. Did you know that it\u2019s actually one of the biggest indicators of the condition of your oral health? Since it\u2019s linked to many of our vital organs, the different colors, textures, coatings, and shapes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Does Your Tongue Say About Your Oral Health? | Long Family Dental<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Believe it or not, your tongue can say plenty about your oral health. Read on to learn not only how to properly inspect your tongue, but clean it as well.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"What Does Your Tongue Say About Your Oral Health? | Long Family Dental\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Believe it or not, your tongue can say plenty about your oral health. Read on to learn not only how to properly inspect your tongue, but clean it as well.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"longmid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1e60c4ba7d418d6c778035ef5c32805\"},\"headline\":\"What Does Your Tongue Say About Your Oral Health?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-06T17:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-21T17:49:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/\"},\"wordCount\":598,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/\",\"name\":\"What Does Your Tongue Say About Your Oral Health? | Long Family Dental\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-06T17:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-21T17:49:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1e60c4ba7d418d6c778035ef5c32805\"},\"description\":\"Believe it or not, your tongue can say plenty about your oral health. Read on to learn not only how to properly inspect your tongue, but clean it as well.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":533},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Long Family Dental Midlothian\",\"description\":\"Blog\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1e60c4ba7d418d6c778035ef5c32805\",\"name\":\"longmid\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Does Your Tongue Say About Your Oral Health? | Long Family Dental","description":"Believe it or not, your tongue can say plenty about your oral health. Read on to learn not only how to properly inspect your tongue, but clean it as well.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"What Does Your Tongue Say About Your Oral Health? | Long Family Dental","twitter_description":"Believe it or not, your tongue can say plenty about your oral health. Read on to learn not only how to properly inspect your tongue, but clean it as well.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/"},"author":{"name":"longmid","@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1e60c4ba7d418d6c778035ef5c32805"},"headline":"What Does Your Tongue Say About Your Oral Health?","datePublished":"2022-05-06T17:47:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-21T17:49:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/"},"wordCount":598,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/","url":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/","name":"What Does Your Tongue Say About Your Oral Health? | Long Family Dental","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg","datePublished":"2022-05-06T17:47:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-21T17:49:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1e60c4ba7d418d6c778035ef5c32805"},"description":"Believe it or not, your tongue can say plenty about your oral health. Read on to learn not only how to properly inspect your tongue, but clean it as well.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/06\/what-does-your-tongue-say-about-your-oral-health\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AdobeStock_250222532__1655833631_51020.jpg","width":800,"height":533},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/","name":"Long Family Dental Midlothian","description":"Blog","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1e60c4ba7d418d6c778035ef5c32805","name":"longmid"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46,"href":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longfamilydentalmidlothian.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}