Tongue Scraping
Tongue scraping is an ancient Ayurvedic practice that is practiced daily for good oral health, as well as mental and physical health too.
In both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, the tongue shares a direct connection to several body organs, including the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, spleen, and stomach. Regularly inspecting the tongue is an excellent way to gauge your overall health.
Bacteria, dead cells, and debris can build up on your tongue over time. This can lead to bad breath and have a negative impact on your oral health and gut health.
Gut health starts with the mouth. So ensuring you are removing any bad bacteria from your tongue can benefit your gut health.
Maintaining proper oral health is important to overall well-being and tongue scraping is a quick way to remove bad bacteria, toxins, and any extra particles that cause bad breath, from the surface of your tongue. It’s done with a small, slightly rounded tool made from stainless steel or copper.
Ideally, a tongue cleaner is used every day, upon rising, and on an empty stomach. Stick your tongue out and place the tongue scraper as far back as is comfortable. Gently pull the tongue scraper forward (dont press too hard). Rinse and repeat as necessary. If you want to follow with oil pulling for an extra oral health boost then you can.
Here are some other benefits of tongue scraping:
Improve your sense of taste- Using a tongue scraper daily can enhance your sense of taste!
Improve the appearance of your tongue- If you have ever met with a TCM practitioner one of the first things they ask is to see your tongue. A buildup of excess debris can cause your tongue to form a white coating.
Gently stimulating the internal organs- The process of tongue scraping helps to stimulate your internal organs by lightly massaging them.
Reduce oral bacteria- Researchers in one 2004 study found that scraping was more effective at reducing a common pathogen “Mutans streptococci (MS)” in the oral cavity.
Improve overall health- If you dread going to the dentist then a quick daily tongue scraping can reduce some “bad news” from your dentist. The key to preventing gum disease, cavities, and other oral conditions is by removing bacteria. Tongue scraping can help reduce these bacteria from the mouth.
Reduce bad breath- Essentially by removing toxins and bad bacteria from your tongue it will result in better breath!