ORAL CARE

The mouth is the most important organ and all digestion process begins here. Your tongue is the best mirror of your health and a look at it can reveal the status of your current condition. It is important to focus on the smell of your breath. Undigested food in your body will reflect a foul smell. It could be a late dinner or ama from undigested food. 

The original Ayurvedic texts mention the twigs of herbs to be used as what the modern day has invented into toothbrush. The main taste of the herbs was mentioned as astringent, pungent, and bitter. These twigs should be used as a brush, thickness of the twig should be equal to a little finger and length should be 12 angula (8-12 cm). The tip of the twig should be chewed a little to make it as a brush. Neem was most commonly used for brushing. However other herbs like arka, khadira, arjuna, and nyagrodha can also be used. While cleaning teeth one should be facing east or north direction.

According to Acharya Sushruta, after teeth cleaning, a tongue cleaning should be done with the tongue scraper to remove the dirt from tongue. Scrape from the back of the tongue towards the front. Preferable 7-10 times. The tongue scrapper should be 10 angula long, soft, made up of gold, silver, steel, copper. The best material for a tongue scraper is:-

1. Silver for Pitta dosha.
2. Copper for Kapha
3. Gold and steel for Vata. 

Mouth wash (instead of tambul sevan) and dental floss are also the new-age dhavan aids.

Be mindful of being very gentle with brushing and tongue scraping during conditions like indigestion, vomiting, dyspnoea, cough, fever, facial paralysis, excessive thirst, ulceration of the mouth, heart disease and diseases of the eyes, head, and ears.