Oral Care

Cleaning the oral cavity is an important component of personal hygiene in Ayurveda, and involves a number of procedures including cleaning the tongue (jihvanirlekhana), oil-pulling (gandusha), cleaning the teeth (dantadhavana), and the use of mouthrinses (kavala). According to Ayurveda, the mouth and oral cavity is under the influence of kapha dosha, which itself is adversely affected by sweet flavor. Thus to properly balance the mouth, instead of using saccharine-sweet toothpastes and mouth rinses, Ayurveda recommends the use of bitter, pungent and astringent flavors to clean the mouth.