Tongue coating removal devices: literature review

• Autor(a) principal: Singh, Shalini
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Singh, Divyashree, Macedo, Mônica Barbosa Leal
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Research, Society and Development
• Texto Completo: https://rsdjournal.org/index.php/rsd/article/view/29554
• topic: Halitose; Língua; Ensino em saúde.; Halitosis; Tongue; Health teaching.; Halitosis; Lengua; Enseñanza en salud.

The accumulation of tongue coating is the main source of bad breath and its mechanical removal is recommended for the control of intraoral halitosis. The aim of this study was to identify and report the main devices used in the mechanical tongue coating removal. This is a narrative review carried through scientific articles found in PubMed, ScienceDirect and SciELO databases, using the keywords: “halitosis” , “sulfur compounds”, “tongue coating”, “tongue cleaning”, “tongue cleaning devices”, “toothbrush” and “tongue scraper” with “AND” and “OR” operators. 13 studies that evaluated toothbrushes and/or tongue scrapers and 5 studies that evaluated scrapers with bristles, electric tongue brush and a tongue suction device were selected and their main characteristics were presented in tables. It was observed that the most used devices to remove the tongue coating are the plastic tongue scraper, the toothbrush and the scraper behind the toothbrush head. Studies observed a higher reduction in volatile sulfur compounds with tongue scrapers than with toothbrushes. Tongue cleaning should be carried out gently and with low force to avoid injuries to the tongue surface.