Oral Health & Detox with SVA Toothpastes plus Sneha Gandush
The use of oils, internally and externally, is a complete care system in Ayurveda. Doing it right, with herbal synergies and different blends, and doing it consistently, can be key to longevity and total health. Ayurvedically speaking, oil, with its unctuous, slimy, and nourishing properties, primarily pacifies vata dosha, the king of all doshas. We have learnt that when vata dosha is in check, all else follows!
Getting your oil on, at SVA, is thus naturally a highly prized daily ritual: we cook with butter oil (ghee); massage our limbs (and scalp) with herbalized oils before shower; apply a drop or two into our ear and nasal cavities for daily maintenance; and now, Vaidya Mishra will help us maintain the health of our oral cavity with his cutting-edge formulation: an oil-pulling Sneh Gandush for daily oral swishing to support the health our oral cavity, gums, and teeth. You might have already tried it yourself, or at least have heard about someone who has, or wants to… As it’s the latest of health fads currently featured on cover pages and magazine.
Ayurveda calls oil pulling (holding and swishing oil in the mouth) gaṇḍūṣa. The Carak Samhita, in the dinacharya (daily routine) section, elaborates on all the benefits of gaṇḍūṣa – and they are many:
gaṇḍūṣa, or gandush, pulls and binds toxins from the oral cavity, and can thus have preventive action on the teeth, gums, and overall oral cavity, in addition to the the tongue, mucus membranes, upper throat and sinus cavity, and jaw;
Gandusha hones the taste buds. This is the natural effect of “detoxing oral cavity” from build-up (ama, amavisha, and garavisha.)
Daily morning oil pulling preps the appetite, clearing any fogs covering the digestive fire of the stomach;
Gandush can help ward off throat inflammation when used regularly and with an herbal synergy formula;
Gandush nurtures and supports lip health;
Gandush can help prevent tooth decay as it facilitates the daily evacuation of food debris left in the teeth crevices;
it can strengthen the roots of the teeth;
it can help prevent toothache as the oil balances and nourishes the nerve tissue and nerve endings;
depending on whether the oil mixture is fresh and non-rancid, and well balanced with herbs, swishing with it can balance the pH of the oral cavity;
gandush supports the vocal chords – oil lubricates, reduces toxic load, and grounds the vocal chords.
Water or Lipid Soluble?
So you’ve heard of oil-pulling, but you probably did not know that there can be 2 distinct categories of oil pulling products, with different effects, based on the contents of your gandush mixture? Did you know that your gandush formula can be either water-soluble or lipid-soluble? What does this mean?
Kashaya gandusha – kashaya means herbal decoction
Sneha gandusha - sneha means oil
Most, if not all, oil-pulling products use primarily lipid-soluble ingredients. This means that only toxins that are absorbed in and through the fat medium are addressed and eliminated. In SVADANTA, with the expert SVA approach, we use both water-soluble and lipid-soluble ingredients in the gandush formulas, to provide a total, tridoshic and holistic approach to oral care.
The water-soluble formulations have been on the market for a few years already and many happy satisfied customers use the water-soluble oral mists – Mukh Shudhi – in peppermint or fennel organic flavors.
Vaidya Mishra’s Mukh Shudhi is a modern version of the kashaya gandush category of oral care preparation. The Mukh Shudhi formula is based on Carak’s original formula, but presented today as an oral mist for convenience and ease of application to the oral cavity.
Peppermint or Fennel?
Vaidya’s Mukh Shudhi comes in peppermint and fennel flavors. Peppermint can be used by all body types and people; fennel is best for pitta body types, or is for those who tend to have high pitta aggravation. No matter which flavor you choose, the water-based gandush will pull out all water soluble toxins from your mouth. Sugar molecule residues in the mouth are water soluble. These molecules are the main food source for oral bacteria. Due to its herbal synergy content, Mukh Shudhi neutralizes sugar residues immediately, thereby cutting off the food supply needed by the bacteria to survive and multiply. It addresses bacteria-based oral problems and helps also address oral inflammation.
Modern science supports our SVA understanding, namely, that oral bacteria contributes to tooth decay, gingivitis, and other oral cavity diseases. Here’s how it works, ingredient-wise.
Water-based Gandush
Here are SVA Mukh Shudhi Oral Mist ingredients according to their actions on oral health:
• Gymnema (gymnema sylvestre): neutralizes residue of sugar and carbohydrate
• Cinnamon (cinnamonum zeylonica): supports oral immunity and fights bad breath
• Black pepper (piper nigrum): burns ama of oral cavity and balance bodhaka kapha (enhances
the ability to taste better)
• Triphala: helps to neutralize and eliminate toxins of oral cavity
• Clove: (syzygium aromaticum) burns Ama and opens channels of oral cavity
• Neem: (azadirachta indica) leaf creates good environment for good bacteria and bad
environment for bad bacteria on mucus membrane of the oral mucosa
• Babul (acacia arabica): bark is called danta dardhyakar means – strengthens teeth and stops
bleeding gums.
• Ajwain (trachyspermum copticum): burns ama and refreshes mouth
• Holy basil (ocimum sanctum): supports immunity and refreshes mouth
• Nutmeg (myristica fragrans): calming for mind and channel opening for brain
• Peppermint (mentha piperata): refreshing and channel opening
• Tea tree oil (melaleuca alternifolia): supports oral immunity and channel opening
• Camphor leaf oil (cinnamomum camphora): channel opening and relaxing for jaw
• Sweet orange and grapefruit essential oil as preservatives and to help fight against bacterial
infection
Lipid or Sneh Gandush
Through SVA we study that the fat tissue holds endogenous (amavisha) as well as numerous types of exogenous toxins (garvisha) entering the body through the food we eat, the air we breathe, and personal care materials applied on the skin. Whether from heavy metals, pesticides, home cleaning chemicals, etc. these lipid-based toxins gradually accumulate and lodge in the oral cavity. Sneha Gandush gives use a powerful way to address and handle the lipid-soluble toxins in the oral region with oils that draw them out and bind them for safe removal.
Vaidya Mishra’ new Sneh Gandush formula (based on the ingredients and methods of Carak’s original formula) accomplishes lipid oral detox with a mixture of sesame and coconut oils into which different ingredients have been synergistically infused to address the different needs of the oral cavity. This tridoshic gandush oil is good for all body types, even though vata dosha gets primarily pacified by it.
When you are shopping for the best oral oil-pulling product, you must keep in mind the rancidity factor. To make a bottle of gandush oil, in general, herbs are cooked in a sesame oil base; this has many problems. Cooking the herbs thus gives the mixture a bad flavor; and 2) this will initiate the aging process such that the final product can actually go rancid in as little as ten days.
If it so happens that your sneh gandush product is rancid, every time you rinse your mouth, you will absorb oxidized free radical molecules into your system. We all know what that does to us!
Vaidya Mishra’s process of making gandush oil, inherited from his ancestors, uses a secret pranic preservation method that stops all oxidization and adds a slightly sweet, pleasant flavor. In addition, Vaidya adds fractionated coconut oil, clove leaf, camphor leaf, and sweet orange to his formula. This stops free-radical formation and makes the oil very palatable.
Modern scientific research on oil pulling
There’s been much written about this of late. The Indian Journal of Dental Research (here) for example, supports the ancient ayurvedic knowledge of gandush connecting it directly to the improvement of conditions of plaque induced gingivitis. There’s currently increased and developing interest in further researching the overall benefits of oil-pulling in general. The article in the Huffington Post gives a good round-up of existing findings and opinions: click here
Your SVA Daily Oral Care Routine
Do this mornings upon waking up (and before or after brushing – optional), and nighttime before bed and after brushing:
1) Brush/floss teeth
2) Rinse mouth well with cool water
3) Spray Mukh Shudhi (your choice of flavors)
4) Swish Sneha Gandusha Oil in Mouth. Use approximately 2 TBSP. Swish 3 – 5 minutes. Spit the oil out after 5 minutes. You want to have mouth full – but not too full of a mouth. Leave room to comfortably hold and swish the oil. (Unlike plain oils, this herbal formula quickly pulls toxins). Do not exceed 5 minutes or you may reabsorb toxins. You can, if you want, repeat the process again but with fresh oil. Do not keep swishing for more than 5 minutes with the same oil, and definitely not for 20 minutes!
5) In the morning, you may lightly rinse your mouth afterwards. At night, do not rinse your mouth. This allows the oil to bind and evacuate more toxins overnight, further nourishing and protecting the oral cavity.
Ingredient-wise action:
Sesame oil: Sesame oil is used as medium to pull out lipid-soluble fractions of the herbs. Sesame oil also has the pharmacodynamic properties to absorb the prabhavas (ultimate effects) of the herbs without altering them. It has as a high smoke point (tolerance of heat) around 400 F. This gives higher boiling temperature to pull out lipid-soluble fraction of herbs and spices. Finally, because sesame is agneya (more agni) it works as yogavahi (activates and carries the properties of the herbs into the tissues).
Fractionated coconut oil: Sesame is agneya and lot of agneya herbs and spices are in the formula (konkol, clove, camphor leaf.) Sesame alone may be a little heating for overall Western mucosa and for pitta or pitta/vata types, who won’t be able to handle the sesame oil unless it is mixed in with coconut oil, which balances sesame and the heating herbs. Coconut oil on its own can clog the channels because of its ‘condensing’ molecules. Fractionated coconut oil however does not clog the channels, as it contains only the medium chain triglycerides.
Nutmeg: Very good to nourish gums and pull out toxins from them. Also has shamaka (pacifying) effect on the nerves. Calms down prana vata and the mind.
Kutki: Very bitter used alone. Works very well with the combination of all the yogavahis in the formula. The yogavahis allow kutki to quickly penetrates beyond gums (even going to jaw and roots of teeth) to pull out amavisha and garvisha from deep tissues.
Kankol: A smoother but more powerful yogavahi, helping deliver effects of kutki faster. Also gives nice aroma.
Clove: Traditionally in almost all countries in the world for toothache. Whole clove is used for extract. Opens the channels; burns ama in oral mucosa; gives nice fragrance. Initially warm but ultimately cool in its effect. Pacifies pitta.
Green cardamom: Adds wonderful fragrance. According to Ayurveda, the seeds help burn ama of the protein molecules. The cardamom skin binds ama of protein molecules.
Triphala: Supports the overall formula to keep pH of oral mucosa neutral. Triphala is neutral (little pro alkaline). Unique property of pulling out toxins (shodhana.) Due to amla and bibhitaki, it also acts has a rasayana that nourishes and firms the gums. Best rasayana for the mouth.
Clove leaf oil: Cooler than clove and adds even more value of clove.
Camphor leaf: Camphor itself is very aromatic and penetrating; so it may burn oral mucosa. Camphor leaf will not do so. Opens channels of oral mucosa and the brain, acting as a refreshing yogavahi.
Sweet Orange: Adds pleasant orange flavor and neutralizes bitter tastes of herbal ingredients. Very nurturing.
Our detox course concluded its third week yesterday. With a group of 28 detoxers from all over the world, we learnt more details about SVA detox and its foundations. In addition, we unpacked our Detox Box of SVA goodies – as one participants said, it was “like Christmas in April!” Discovering all the details of the different herbals blends, teas, creams, that Vaidya Mishra specifically made to suit the western lifestyle and physiology. We then had an open session where each detoxer shared their experiences, anecdotes, and future plans for smooth-er detoxing! It was a full 3 hour long session. We were sad to let each other go, but were ready to step away from our electronic devices for a well-deserved break!
Next week, Dr. Teitelbaum will be our featured guest, sharing her knowledge and experience of decades helping patients through SVA diet and detox. Namaste!
We want to help you protect your purchase – there’s been an increase in lost/stolen packages.
To protect your shipment – in case your shipping address is not secure – we have now added the “signature delivery” option upon check-out on www.chandika.com and we highly recommend you select it to ensure your package is guaranteed to reach you after it leaves our warehouse. Kindly note we are unable to replace stolen/misplaced packages once they are confirmed delivered by the carrier of your choice.
