ORAL HEALTH AND HYGIENE: DR SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR

Oral health and hygiene are well known. But following points (some hypothetical and some experienced) may be useful.

• Oral hygiene is not merely meant for dental health. If practiced in a way given below it can improve health of brain, salivary glands, sinuses, taste buds, gums and teeth.

• After getting up in morning gargle mouth with plain water or slightly salted water. Salt makes it antimicrobial. Rub the palate with thumb. This may appear clumsy. But rubbing of the whole palate stimulates the under-surface and floors of the sinuses and presumably helps improve the circulation in the sinuses and prevent congestion and stagnation of blood; and infection. It can aid in cure of infection; because antibiotics may not penetrate in (even if they are powerful); the sites of infection.

• Rub your upper gums from inside and outside with either your thumb or fingers. This would be useful to improve the blood supply to your upper gums and upper teeth. Rub the inner and outer aspects of your lower gums also. This would improve the circulation of lower gums and lower teeth.

• Rubbing of inner and outer aspects of upper and lower gums can improve the health of salivary ducts and their openings from parotid and sub-mandibular and sub-lingual glands.

• Rub the under-surface of your tongue. This will improve the health of sub-lingual salivary ducts and their openings.

• Rub the upper surface of your tongue. This would improve the health of taste buds and taste receptors.

• Oral cavity, oral structures and tongue have large representation in sensory homunculus (Representation of the body in the brain) and hence rubbing of oral cavity would stimulate these parts of brain. This is a unique and desirable stimulation not possible by any other means!

• Using tooth powders containing ayurvedic herbs have added advantages. Hence you can use Kaat (catechu), Tirfal (tomar seeds), Halad (turmeric), Amala (emblica officinalis), Harada (terminalia chebulia), Neem (azadiracta indica) etc. You may use tooth brush and tooth paste of your choice in addition to the steps described above.

• In view of psychosomatic influences the Hindu culture has evolved prayers for different physical activities; such as bath, eating, and even maintenance of oral hygiene. Following is a Sanskrit prayer offered to the herbs used in the tooth powder.

AYURBALAM YASHO VARCHAS PRAJA PASHUNWASU NI CHA BRAHMA PRAJNAN CHA MEDHA CHA TVAN NO DEHI VANASPATE

• This prayer is a request for long life, physical strength, success, potency, sharp intelligence, good progeny and above all creativity and universal perspective. Prayerful attitude makes every activity sublime and oriented towards one's own and global welfare.

• One should be careful if there are ulcers, lesions etc. But; by using fingers; you are safer than while using brush; as you can feel and judge small boils, abscesses etc with fingers, but NOT by any brush! Hence, in such cases; brushing in fact; can be far more damaging than using fingers.

• There are no clinical trials known to the author, regarding the authenticity of these steps. Hence these steps have to be if at all, followed by one's own choice, and at one's own risk. The steps described are totally harmless.