Assessment of tongue cleaning habit among the patients visiting a dental hospital in Kathmandu

The aim of this study was to assess the tongue cleaning habit among the people to maintain and improve the quality of oral hygiene. This cross-sectional study was conducted in outpatient department of People’s Dental college and hospital, department of Community Dentistry among 312 patients 185 female and 127 male between 18-60 years. The self-administered questionnaire consisted of two parts. The first part consisted of socio-demographic details of participants (age, sex, education and occupation). The second part consisted of 17 questions related to tongue cleanliness behavior. Self-constructed questionnaire adopted from previous study. Data analysis was done by using SPSS 20 version and descriptive statistics were calculated. Out of total 312 participants, 53.8% had a tongue cleaning habits. Sixty nine percent participants cleaned the tongue every day. About two-thirds 65% use toothbrush. Nearly 62% of the participants took 15- 30sec for tongue cleaning. Fifty percent clean the entire tongue. Eighty nine percent started the tongue cleaning about a year ago. Nearly 75% respondent clean tongue on their own without any suggestion from other persons. About 64.3% of the participants were not feeling unpleasant sensation after tongue clean. Nearly more than half 56 % had gagging reflex by using the tongue cleaner. About 53% (n=98) female were having a habit of tongue cleaning. About 30-39 age group 62.1% non-smokers and 57.4% had tongue cleaning habit. About 54.7% drinking tea / coffee had tongue-cleaning habits. In conclusion tongue cleaning habit helps to prevent halitosis, stains, tongue coating and maintain oral hygiene. In this population, more than half reported tongue cleaning habit.