WhatYour Tongue Reveals About Overall Health (NAPSA)—Did you know that your tonguereflects your overall health and lifestyle? According to many licensed acupuncturists and experts in the field of tongue diagnosis, the tongue is considered to be a mirror of the body. During a tongue diagnosis, the practitioner examines variations in the tongue’s color, texture, shape and coating. For instance, a pink tongue with a slightly moist coat could indicate a healthy diet, or red speckles on the tongue could mean that you're suffering from insomnia. An important aspect of tongue diagnosis involves determining when a tongue is neglected, and one of the most obvious signs of a neglected tongue is bad breath. Cleansing the tongue of bacteria that cause bad breath is essential for proper oral care hygiene. The following tips can help keep your mouth and tonguein tiptop shape: * Brush your teeth thoroughly twice a day using an ADA-accepted toothbrush. Floss daily. * Brush or use a tongue scraper on your tongue in a sweeping motion from back to front to remove bacteria and help freshen breath. * Rinse twice a day with an antiseptic mouthwash to help prevent and reduce plaque and gingivitis, especially in difficult-toreach areas of the mouth. * Use oral care strips with germ-killing ingredients such as new Fresh Citrus Listerine Pocket-Paks to maintain fresh breath while on-the-go. “The cleansing of the tongue’s coating is very important in many branches of Asian medicine. While the tongue diagnosis may suggest that a person should alterlifestyle habits, such as getting more sleep or eating less spicy foods, many @ Now you can keep your tongue fresh and germ-free with a burst of fruit flavor. practitioners believe the actual cleansing of the tongue to be a very important part of a healthy lifestyle,” says Wendy Matus, L.Ac., M.S.0.M., a licensed acupuncturist and expert in tongue diagnosis. According to tongue analysis experts, a healthy tongue should be a pale red color with a thin white coat and should be slightly moist, not too wet nor too dry. The tongue should have a supple shape, neither too flabby nor too stiff and should not appear cracked, too swollen or too thin. Listerine PocketPaks oral care strips contain the same powerful germ-killing ingredients found in Listerine Antiseptic Mouthwash in a portable delivery system. The strips dissolve instantly, killing over 99 percent of odor-causing bacteria within 30 seconds, based on lab tests and lasting up to 90 minutes. They contain zero grams of carbohydrates per strip and are sugar- and calorie-free. Fresh Citrus Listerine PocketPaks are available in the oral care aisle of grocery, drug, mass merchandise stores and wholesale clubs.
