Got Bad Breath? Try This $8 Dentist-Recommended Tool

One reviewer loved that it removed “residual gunk” from their tongue.

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If you’re not using a tongue scraper after you brush your teeth, you might be missing out on a tool that’ll help your tongue and mouth feel cleaner — especially if you drink a lot of coffee, smoke or consume a lot of spices.

“A tongue scraper is a device used to clean the papillae, the tiny raised bumps on the top of the tongue that contain taste buds,” Dr. Azadeh Akhavan, a New York City-based dentist whose practice emphasizes preventative and holistic care, told HuffPost over email.

Some people have longer papillae than others, according to Akhavan, and long papillae can not only pick up stains but also contribute to bad breath. “Heavy coffee drinkers or smokers with long papillae often exhibit a brown tinge on the surface of their tongue... Besides picking up stains, long papillae can also encourage bacteria that cause bad breath,” Akhavan explained.

Althouth Akhaven cautioned that a tongue scraper won’t remove sources of bad breath entirely, she explained that tongue scraping may lessen bad breath — also known as halitosis — by helping remove bacteria from the tongue. She recommended the Dr. Tung’s stainless tongue cCleaner for folks interested in adding a scraper to their routine. “It is comfortable to grip, durable and reasonably priced,” she wrote. “In general, stainless steel feels better on the tongue than plastic.”