Importance of a Healthy Tongue: Could It Be a Reflection of Overall Health in Children?

Abstract

This review aims to study the importance of a healthy tongue along with the care of the teeth to maintain the overall good health of the oral cavity. Oral health is often considered secondary to overall health, and tongue hygiene is typically prioritized after tooth care. Poor tongue hygiene leads to halitosis, dry mouth, cavities, altered taste perception, and oral infections. Scraping the tongue while brushing the teeth using a tongue scraper is recommended, but people do not follow it. Checking the tongue is essential to screening in medical, pediatrics, and dental exams. Any changes in color, shape, size, and texture of the tongue may indicate underlying local or systemic diseases. A healthy tongue is pink with healthy papillae, which helps us enjoy the taste of the food we eat. A simple step of taking an extra few seconds for tongue scraping during daily teeth brushing can help to maintain good tongue health. To write this review, articles from electronic databases such as PubMed/Medline, Google Scholar, and Semantic Scholar are studied. Results found the importance of normal tongue color, texture, shape, and size. The results further found the various tongue pathologies, challenges of maintaining tongue hygiene, and possible future directions to deal with them. This article explores the importance of tongue hygiene in children and adults by comparing their oral care needs and practices. It also provides an overview of different tongue pathologies based on their color, shape, size, and texture.

Keywords: atrophic glossitis; flossing; geographic tongue; halitosis; healthy tongue; macroglossia; oral thrush; tongue hygiene; tongue scraper.

Figure 1. Summary of tongue hygiene

[7-10] Figure created by the authors

Figure 2. Graphic abstract of the importance of a healthy tongue

Figure created by the authors