Oral hygiene according to ayurveda



The mouth is the door through which the nutrients enter the body; it is the first laboratory in which digestion takes place; it is the seat of the sense of taste that allows us to capture and distinguish flavors.

It is therefore not surprising that the health of the oral cavity is of such great importance for medicine, both Western and Eastern. If our habits in this regard are known from early childhood, we discover the precious suggestions of the Indian tradition, or ayurveda .

A cleansing ritual for the health of the mouth

Ayurvedic medicine recommends daily and systematic cleaning not only of the teeth, but of the oral cavity as a whole . In fact, one of the first actions to be taken in the morning is precisely the purification of the tongue thanks to a small tool called nectalingua .

The Indian tradition states that just on the tongue, during the night, many toxins lurk that create a white unhealthy patina to be removed properly.

Subsequently, we proceed with a practice called " oil pulling ", which means rinsing with oil, usually sesame, organic and cold-pressed: it remains in the mouth for a few minutes so that it rests on the tongue, teeth and gums and then expels (practice called gandusha ).

The oil can be enriched with specific substances related to each dosha or with medicinal herbs according to the therapeutic purposes.

A variation of this practice is that which involves gargling, always with oil, to dissolve and release excess mucus to be done until the eyes water and the nose runs (practice known as kavala ).

Finally, even the teeth must be carefully cleaned with specific pastes or with branches or fibrous roots, without forgetting to massage the gums.

All these practices would be worthy of crowning in a healthy habit that should be part of everyone's daily routine (including children): the jala neti, the nasal washes that we talked about.

How to provide a natural oral hygiene

What is nectalingua?

The brief description given in the previous paragraph has briefly illustrated the phases of a correct oral hygiene according to Ayurveda. It is clear that the simple toothbrush is no longer sufficient; so let's discover some technical "tools" for cleaning.

As far as oils are concerned, it is not difficult to find them at organic stores, health food stores or online. Even the toothpaste or, possibly, the tooth sticks can be purchased from the above-mentioned retailers.

Certainly more particular is the so-called nettalingua, a lesser known accessory with a slightly more complicated finding, especially in small towns. Our advice is to buy it online also given its economic nature.

It consists of an accessory in the form of a curved bow of stainless steel or copper ; it must be passed over the tongue from the bottom towards the mouth opening several times so as to collect any deposited waste. Once finished, the nectal tongue must be rinsed and stored while the mouth is cleaned with rinses.

Then proceed with the steps described in the previous paragraph.

Go beyond just the toothbrush ...

This excursus on oral cavity cleaning illustrates a series of hygiene modalities according to Ayurveda for us little known, but which can be embraced.

Obviously they belong to a medical tradition that requires a 360 ° involvement in lifestyle, nutrition, habits, otherwise there is the risk of extrapolating practices from the context with a questionable sense.

In any case, our invitation is to try, make attempts and see how the body and the mind welcome them. With openness and desire to experiment.

Oral hygiene: here are 10 simple rules to follow

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