While you may know that the bacteria in your mouth is the cause of 90 percent of bad breath, you may not realize the majority of smell-generating bacteria are sitting on the back of your tongue.

What’s more, the majority of the over 60 million people diagnosed with oral malodor are not aware of the single best method to improve their breath–the simple act of scraping the tongue.

Tongue cleaning has been practiced for centuries and recent literature has shown it leads to a healthy oral environment. Clinical research has created a renewed interest in tongue cleaning, since evidence has shown that infection-causing bacteria-the primary cause of bad breath-increased tenfold after a week of not cleaning the tongue.

A recent scientific study on the effectiveness of scraping the tongue found that scraping it twice daily for seven days had a significant effect on the levels of bacteria in the mouth and also decreased bad breath.

The subjects in the study added tongue scraping as part of their normal daily oral care routine of brushing their teeth and using a mouth rinse.

“Since most people brush their teeth and use a mouth rinse, it is clear the missing link for truly clean breath is scraping your tongue,” explained Kristy Menage Bernie, Registered Dental Hygienist. “Some people mistakenly believe that brushing your tongue will have the same effect as scraping but the reality is to have a clean mouth and fresh breath, you need to brush, floss, scrape and rinse, in that order, and make sure you use a well-designed tongue scraper that is safe and effective, such as the one available from BreathRx.”