Trial reportBMC oral health2014
Effects of tongue cleaning on bacterial flora in tongue coating and dental plaque: a crossover study.
Trial report in BMC oral health, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cleaning the palate and tongue without nausea: a mixed methods study exploring the appropriate depth and direction of oral care.BMC oral health · 2021Trial
- Effectiveness of an oral care tablet containing kiwifruit powder in reducing oral bacteria in tongue coating: A crossover trial.Clinical and experimental dental research · 2020Trial
- Effect of tongue hygiene instruction on periodontal patients: an experimental study.BMC oral health · 2026Article
- Exploring the role of Fusobacterium nucleatum in colorectal cancer: implications for tumor proliferation and chemoresistance.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2024Review
- Article
- Dysbiosis linking periodontal disease and oral squamous cell carcinoma-A brief narrative review.Heliyon · 2024Review
- Oral Hygiene in Adolescence: A Questionnaire-Based Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Fusobacterium nucleatum and cancer.Periodontology 2000 · 2022Review
- Oral Bacterial Microbiota in Digestive Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review.Microorganisms · 2021Review
- The Effects of Gamification and Oral Self-Care on Oral Hygiene in Children: Systematic Search in App Stores and Evaluation of Apps.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2020Article
- Tongue coating in relationship to gender, plaque, gingivitis and tongue cleaning behaviour in systemically healthy young adults.International journal of dental hygiene · 2020Observational
- Evidence for Proline Utilization by Oral Bacterial Biofilms Grown in Saliva.Frontiers in microbiology · 2020Article
- Detection of dental plaque with disclosing agents in the context of preventive oral hygiene training programs.Heliyon · 2019Article
- Relationship between acetaldehyde concentration in mouth air and characteristics of microbiota of tongue dorsum in Japanese healthy adults: a cross-sectional study.Journal of applied oral science : revista FOB · 2019Article
- Reliability, Accuracy, and Use Frequency of Evaluation Methods for Amount of Tongue Coating.Chinese journal of integrative medicine · 2019Article
- Prevalence of Tongue Cleaning Using a Toothbrush: A Questionnaire Survey in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.BioMed research international · 2019Observational
- Oral Microbiota as Promising Diagnostic Biomarkers for Gastrointestinal Cancer: A Systematic Review.OncoTargets and therapy · 2019Review
- Article
- Dental Procedures, Oral Practices, and Associated Anxiety: A Study on Late-teenagers.Osong public health and research perspectives · 2014Article
- A Novel, Simple, Frequent Oral Cleaning Method Reduces Damaging Bacteria in the Dental Microbiota.Journal of International Society of Preventive & Community DentistryArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe effects of tongue cleaning on reconstruction of bacterial flora in dental plaque and tongue coating itself are obscure. We assessed changes in the amounts of total bacteria as well as Fusobacterium nucleatum in tongue coating and dental plaque specimens obtained with and without tongue cleaning.
methodsWe conducted a randomized examiner-blind crossover study using 30 volunteers (average 23.7 ± 3.2 years old) without periodontitis. After dividing randomly into 2 groups, 1 group was instructed to clean the tongue, while the other did not. On days 1 (baseline), 3, and 10, tongue coating and dental plaque samples were collected after recording tongue coating score (Winkel tongue coating index: WTCI). After a washout period of 3 weeks, the same examinations were performed with the subjects allocated to the alternate group. Genomic DNA was purified from the samples and applied to SYBR® Green-based real-time PCR to quantify the amounts of total bacteria and F. nucleatum.
resultsAfter 3 days, the WTCI score recovered to baseline, though the amount of total bacteria in tongue coating was significantly lower as compared to the baseline. In plaque samples, the bacterial amounts on day 3 and 10 were significantly lower than the baseline with and without tongue cleaning. Principal component analysis showed that variations of bacterial amounts in the tongue coating and dental plaque samples were independent from each other. Furthermore, we found a strong association between amounts of total bacteria and F. nucleatum in specimens both.
conclusionsTongue cleaning reduced the amount of bacteria in tongue coating. However, the cleaning had no obvious contribution to inhibit dental plaque formation. Furthermore, recovery of the total bacterial amount induced an increase in F. nucleatum in both tongue coating and dental plaque. Thus, it is recommended that tongue cleaning and tooth brushing should both be performed for promoting oral health.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.