The Eastern traditions of Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine state that a clean tongue is one of the signs of good digestive health. If you observe your tongue when you are healthy versus when you have fever, there does appear to be truth in this observation.

Ayurveda recommends scraping the tongue in the morning to remove any coating. Western dentistry recommends brushing the teeth and flossing. These are mechanical methods of cleaning the mouth, gums, tongue and teeth.

Many claims are made about oil-pulling and I have struggled to reconcile whether there is any merit in doing this. I don’t believe that it actually pulls toxins from the body into the mouth, however it may reduce bacterial load in the mouth and many studies have linked bacteria and inflammation with chronic disease.

The jury is still out, but in the meantime, scraping the tongue is a cheap, easy, quick activity that can be done immediately after brushing your teeth, that will certainly do no harm.

Try it and see how it feels for you!

In Health and Wellness