“Our oral health is a reflection of the physiological, social and psychological factors that are essential to our quality of life.” – Unknown
Today is known around social media platforms as #WellnessWednesday. Over at my house I call it WooWoo Wednesday!! (This means I’ve got something up my sleeve that a lot of you may see as weird). Today’s WooWoo is tongue scraping. If you are one who is already scraping your tongue, then… WooHoo for being WooWoo!! {high five}
Why tongue scraping? Oral bacteria is directly related to gut bacteria (Day 13). You can have mouth dysbiosis just like gut dysbiosis. {Yes! I get to use that word again!!} Our oral microbiome is the entry point to our gut microbiome. In traditional medicine practice all these things are treated separately (i.e., the dentist for oral health, GI doctor for gut health, etc), but the body is all connected. Your tongue/mouth can be an indicator of what is going on inside your body. My acupuncturist, a Chinese Medicine practitioner, looks at my tongue every time I visit her. (Side note: my tongue’s appearance has changed since I started seeing her. It’s super interesting…if you’re a health nerd like me, anyway.) But I, probably much like you before today, had never thought much about my tongue’s appearance prior to that.
Most dentists recommend you brush your tongue with your toothbrush. This is great advice, it’s just the wrong tool for the job. The soft bristles of your toothbrush are designed to get debris off hard surfaces (like your teeth…and your shower tiles). A hard edge, ideally metal, is better designed to get debris off of your tongue. This is the tongue scraper I use daily…it’s made of copper (Ayurvedic medicine recommends using copper because it’s naturally antimicrobial). I do this first thing in the morning on an empty stomach (before I take my probiotic). I swipe the tongue scraper down my tongue about 7 times. (I rinse the scraper in between each swipe because…wellllll you’ll see). This all takes less than a minute. Then I rinse my mouth, take my probiotic, and brush my teeth. Some people, in a pinch, will use the edge of a spoon to scrape their tongue. (You could do this until you get an actual tongue scraper). Word of warning: once you do this and actually SEE what comes off your tongue, you’ll want to continue every day. It’s disgusting…I was shocked the first time.
There’s lots of debate {shocker} about whether scraping gets rid of bad breath. After seeing what comes off, I’d be surprised if it didn’t help at least a little bit. {Ewwww} But there’s definitely no debate that getting rid of that coating of mucous {there, I said it} helps your taste buds work better…which means your food tastes better! {Score!}
So go ahead and try it today (or tomorrow morning, FIRST THING) with a spoon. I bet you’ll be adding a scraper to your cart sooner rather than later!
Light and Love,
♥k