How to Get Nicotine Off Your Tongue
Nicotine is highly addictive and can be ingested by smoking cigarettes, cigars, pipes, or using chewing tobacco. The tar and nicotine found in such products can cause many health problems such as cancer, emphysema and gum disease 2. Using nicotine on a regular basis can stain any body part it comes in contact with, such as fingers, lips and tongue. There are several things you can do to get a nicotine stain off your tongue.
If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, seek emergency treatment immediately.
Scrape your tongue with a special device. Purchase a tongue scraper in the dental care section of your local drug store and scrape your tongue with it after you brush your teeth. Scraping your tongue will help remove bacteria and stains that nicotine can deposit over time.
How to Get Stains Off the Tongue
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Brush your tongue when you're cleaning your teeth. Brushing your tongue works the same way a tongue scraper does, and will help scrub off nicotine stains while keeping the surface of your tongue clean.
Rinse your mouth with a tar-removing mouthwash purchased from a drug store. Use this mouthwash for 30 seconds twice a day to fight tongue stains.
How to Remove Nicotine Stains From Lips
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Purchase a toothpaste that contains peroxide and baking soda, two highly cleansing elements. Brush your tongue with this paste twice a day to cleanse your tongue and remove nicotine stains.
Stop smoking. Your stained tongue will fade and clear on its own when you stop exposing it to nicotine, plus your health will improve, too 2.
Warnings
Quitting smoking greatly reduces serious risks to your health.
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References
- Daily Mail
- After 50 Health
- Kim AM, Keenan BT, Jackson N, et al. Tongue fat and its relationship to obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep. 2014;37(10):1639–1648. Published 2014 Oct 1. doi:10.5665/sleep.4072
- Bartlett JA, van der Voort Maarschalk K. Understanding the oral mucosal absorption and resulting clinical pharmacokinetics of asenapine. AAPS PharmSciTech. 2012;13(4):1110–1115. doi:10.1208/s12249-012-9839-7
- National Organization for Rare Diseases. Tongue Cancer.
- Dotiwala AK, Samra NS. Anatomy, head and neck, tongue. [Updated 2019 Feb 8]. In: StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2019 Jan.
- Moore KL and AF Dalley. Clinically Oriented Anatomy. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 4th edition, 1999, pp. 940-947.
- Stone M, et al. Structure and variability in human tongue muscle anatomy. Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Eng Imaging Vis. 2018;6(5):499–507. Published online 2016 Apr 8. doi:10.1080/21681163.2016.1162752
Warnings
- Quitting smoking greatly reduces serious risks to your health.
Writer Bio
Catherine Colombo is a freelance writer based in Portland, Ore. She received her Bachelor of Science in written communications and English language, graduating with honors from Eastern Michigan University. Colombo has participated in publishing, fiction, mixed media and poetry symposiums since 2001.