04/01/2023
BENEFITS OF TONGUE SCRAPING
Tongue scraping is an ancient Ayurvedic technique for improving oral health, as well as reducing the inflammatory load on your body by balancing the oral microbiome. The connection between oral health and organ health — such as heart health — is becoming increasingly clearer. When you are looking only at your tooth and gum health, you’re missing an important aspect of oral health, which is a healthy tongue.
The tongue can be the home of many unhealthy bacterial strains, and a thick coating on your tongue makes for a cozy home for them to replicate. Scaping off the coating of your tongue on a daily basis is just as important as brushing your teeth. In fact, when I first started doing tongue scraping, I couldn’t believe the difference I felt in my overall oral hygiene. Now, skipping scraping my tongue seems just as distasteful as not brushing my teeth.
In addition to removing the plaque from your tongue, the act of tongue scraping also plays an unexpected, deeper role in overall health. Areas of the tongue correlate to different organs, similar to how in foot reflexology the sole of the foot corresponds to various organ systems. In Ayurveda, it is understood that when you scrape the tongue, you are massaging those tongue reflex points that simultaneously and gently stimulate the corresponding organs to increase energy flow to the body.
You could brush your tongue with your toothbrush, but research shows that a tongue scraper is much more effective, reducing volatile sulfur compounds on the tongue by 75%, compared to just 45% with a toothbrush. Most people have a light tongue coating, but take a look at the tongue of a small child or someone with strong digestion. There will be a little coating toward the back, but the tongue is very red or pink with no coating. As we age we can have more built-up ama, and this is reflected on the tongue.
All it takes to scrape your tongue is a tongue scraper and a few minutes. You can buy a tongue scraper at most pharmacies and discount stores, as well as health food stores and online. Your tongue scraper should either be made of stainless steel or copper. Stick out your tongue and place the scraper as far back as you can comfortably. Using gentle pressure, scrape down to the tip of your tongue. Rinse the scraper and repeat until the tongue looks clear of coating. Do this daily, after oil pulling and brushing your teeth. Most people are shocked by the amount of residue that comes off their tongue in the beginning, but as you clean your tongue on a more regular basis, it will have less of a coating over time.
If you would like to learn more about other Ayurvedic self-care tips, please see my article on the many benefits of Ayurveda: https://bit.ly/3JiZ9Vk
