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ZenBodyLove

Tongue scraping

Tongue scraping is a daily practice in Ayurveda, which links it to oral hygiene and digestion. Trials in adults show that cleaning the tongue reduces tongue coating and breath odour compounds in the short term, but evidence for longer-term benefit in people with bad breath is very uncertain. Small studies suggest possible effects on taste, on respiratory function in older adults in care and on self-reported digestion. No claim reaches moderate certainty because the trials are few, small, short and mostly measure surrogate outcomes.

Evidence retrieved up to

What the research shows

For adults living with bad breath of oral origin, whether regular tongue cleaning improves breath odour over several weeks is very uncertain, based on two small trials.

Very low certaintyThis is uncertain; treat it as a lead, not a finding.
No known concerns at usual amountsUnclear

Who this is about

adults with bad breath of oral origin

Practical note

Graded very low, matching the 2019 Cochrane review's own GRADE rating: two trials, 46 participants, follow-up of one to four weeks, and a small difference in dentist-rated odour scores.

Safety note

Adverse effects are thinly reported. In one trial in the 2006 Cochrane review, nausea and minor trauma were reported when the tongue was cleaned with a toothbrush, and all participants were receptive to the tongue scraper; the 2019 Cochrane review found no adverse-event data for tongue cleaning.

Sources

In older adults living in residential care, adding tongue cleaning to routine oral care was associated with maintained peak expiratory flow and tongue pressure over one year in a single small randomised trial.

Very low certaintyThis is uncertain; treat it as a lead, not a finding.
No known concerns at usual amountsBenefit

Who this is about

older adults living in residential care

Practical note

Graded very low: one randomised trial of 24 residents (12 per arm), serious imprecision, and the between-group difference rests on a single primary outcome; it has not been replicated.

Safety note

In the trial, tongue cleaning was given as part of routine oral care in nursing homes.

Sources

In adults in good general health, cleaning the tongue with a scraper or tongue brush in addition to toothbrushing reduces breath odour measures and tongue coating in the short term, with reductions in volatile sulphur compounds lasting minutes rather than hours.

Low certaintyFurther research is likely to change this.
No known concerns at usual amountsBenefit

Who this is about

adults in good general health

Practical note

Graded low: randomised and controlled trials consistently favour tongue cleaning, but there are few of them (two trials and 40 participants in the 2006 Cochrane review, five studies in the 2010 review), outcomes are short-term surrogate breath measures, and the 2006 review authors called the evidence weak and unreliable. Trials compared a scraper or tongue brush with toothbrushing alone.

Safety note

Adverse effects are thinly reported. In one trial in the 2006 Cochrane review, nausea and minor trauma were reported when the tongue was cleaned with a toothbrush, and all participants were receptive to the tongue scraper; the 2019 Cochrane review found no adverse-event data for tongue cleaning.

Sources

In adults with a coated tongue, mechanical tongue cleaning reduces the coating and is associated with improved taste sensitivity, though results differ between tastes and studies.

Very low certaintyThis is uncertain; treat it as a lead, not a finding.
No known concerns at usual amountsBenefit

Who this is about

adults with a coated tongue

Practical note

Graded very low: a 2025 systematic review of only four studies with mixed designs, no pooled estimate, and inconsistent results across individual tastes.

Safety note

Adverse effects are thinly reported. In one trial in the 2006 Cochrane review, nausea and minor trauma were reported when the tongue was cleaned with a toothbrush, and all participants were receptive to the tongue scraper; the 2019 Cochrane review found no adverse-event data for tongue cleaning.

Sources

What the tradition holds

In healthy adults, scraping the tongue each morning for four weeks improves self-reported digestion-related signs such as bowel regularity.

No known concerns at usual amountsBenefit

Who this is about

healthy adults

The tradition's frame

Ayurveda

Ayurveda includes tongue scraping in the morning daily routine and holds that clearing the tongue supports oral hygiene, general wellbeing and digestive power.

Practical note

The only trial found is a single unblinded randomised cross-over study of 58 healthy adults in Japan using a tongue scraper every morning for four weeks, with questionnaire outcomes; it has not been replicated.

Safety note

Adverse effects are thinly reported. In one trial in the 2006 Cochrane review, nausea and minor trauma were reported when the tongue was cleaned with a toothbrush, and all participants were receptive to the tongue scraper; the 2019 Cochrane review found no adverse-event data for tongue cleaning.

Sources