Five Steps to a Better Morning Oral Care Routine

Study after study has shown that having poor oral health can cause you to have higher rates of cardiovascular disease such as heart attack or stroke than those with good oral health.

Yoga and ayurveda practitioners are no strangers to the practices and rituals surrounding dental health and longevity!

To keep my teeth at their best, at night I floss and brush, but in the morning I have a slightly more in-depth oral care routine inspired by Living Libations.

Here is the five-step process:

STEP 1: Salt water rinse.

Every quarter or so, I make a big pot of saltwater solution by boiling water with a ton of Pink Himalayan Seasalt which I store in a large glass jar in my bathroom once it cools. I add a few drops of Living Libations Yogi Tooth Serum, Happy Gum Drops, or Mint + Myrrh Serum, which gives it a nice flavor with the salt, and also adds beneficial essential oils for the gums and mouth microbiome. Pour out a shot glass of the mixture, swish for about 30 seconds first thing when you get up in the morning and spit out.

STEP 2: Scrape your tongue
Scrape your tongue 2-3 times with an Ayurvedic tongue scraper (Living Libations has a few varieties). Nothing has helped me more to prevent tartar than tongue scraping - my dental hygienist was shocked at how little she needed to do when I started tongue scraping. Tongue scraping is also the #1 remedy for bad breath, just sayin’! To make it even more enjoyable, add a drop of Living Libations Yogi Tooth Serum, Happy Gum Drops or Mint + Myrrh Serum to the scraper.

STEP 3: Brush teeth and gums

Most commercial and yes, even natural toothpastes contain glycerin - an inexpensive filler that coats the teeth, blocking the saliva from doing its primary job of remineralizing the tooth’s enamel. There are very few toothpastes on the market without glycerin (and none at all for pets). I like a product called Earth Paste and any of the toothpastes by Living Libations. When you brush your gums, brush from the bottom of the gums toward the tooth line.

STEP 4: Coconut Oil Pull
Oil pulling is an ancient tradition of cleaning the mouth. If this is new to you, start small by putting ½ teaspoon of coconut oil in your mouth and swishing it around for 15-20 minutes while you’re getting ready for the day. Do not swallow it, and make sure to spit it out in the trash can so as not to clog your pipes when it hardens. To make it more palatable and also beneficial for the gums and mouth’s microbiome, add essential oils such as cinnamon, peppermint, myrrh, and clove. Or swish with Living Libations Happy Gum Drops Oil Swishing Serum. Note: I don’t oil pull every day as is sometimes recommended, but I try to do it as often as possible throughout the week.

STEP 5: Final rinse and brush 

After the oil pulling you’ll want to get the oil residue out of your mouth and off your teeth. A good swish with the saltwater solution is great followed by a quick once over brushing (not thorough, just enough to get the oil residue off the teeth).

I know this may seem like a lot of extra things to add to your day, but in total with the oil pulling, the whole thing takes less than 20 minutes. And remember you can do other things while you’re oil pulling, like getting your morning tea or breakfast ready, picking your outfit for the day, or showering. My results in terms of better breath, healthy gums, and zero tartar has been worth every second!

How about you? Do you have any morning oral care rituals? Share them in the comments!

Love Up Your Pearly Whites: Oil Pulling Tooth Butter Cups

Oil pulling.

I know. It’s so trendy.

And surely you have more important things to do than swishing coconut oil in your mouth in the morning.

You know. Like making a living or changing the world, but hear me out.

Self care. It’s vital.

You’ve probably heard about the importance of a healthy microbiome and how eating certain probiotic foods can populate your gut with beneficial microbes.

The maintenance of an ecologically diverse microbiome makes way for a powerful immune system, radical health, and you guessed it — it’s also the key to oral health.

The mouth is a microbial menagerie and like your gut, it has good microbes and bad microbes. Ideally we keep the good guys, and squash the bad guys.

Oil pulling, also known as "kavala" or "gundusha," is an Ayurvedic oral hygiene technique where you swish a tablespoon of coconut or sesame oil in your mouth on an empty stomach for around 20 minutes.

The oil supposedly pulls out toxins, but what is more interesting to me is what you can add to the oil to help build up healthy, bustling bacteria and promote diverse flora in the mouth.

The aromatic compounds of essential oils such as peppermint, frankincense, cinnamon, clove, tea tree, myrrh and, more can act as microbiome regenerators with antiseptic properties.

You can also add probiotics for a similar effect, baking soda for alkalizing the mouth, and activated charcoal - effective in absorbing plaque and other compounds that stain teeth.

After dorking out on all this information, I got inspired and put together a recipe for convenient coconut “tooth butter cups” you can store in your fridge and pop in your mouth first thing for oral swishing.

They are jam packed with a variety of essential oils, baking soda, and activated charcoal - all the toothy goodness!

I made them before bed and was so excited to wake up and use them for the first time that I woke up a whole 90 minutes earlier than usual before the sun. And I was not disappointed…

My mouth has never felt so fresh, clean, or alive!

Here is the recipe:

Probiotic Coconut Oil Charcoal Tooth Butter Cups

Ingredients:

• 1 silicone candy mold (15 molds)

• 60ml coconut, MCT, or sesame oil, liquified.

• 1 capsule probiotics

• 1 tablespoon baking soda

• 2 capsules activated charcoal (vegan - from coconut shells)

• 15 drops of each essential oil:
  Peppermint
  Cinnamon
  Clove
  Tea tree
  Myrrh
  Frankincense

Go heavier on peppermint and cinnamon for flavor ;)

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and then pour even amounts into the candy mold.

2. Place in the fridge or freezer to solidify.

3. When solid, pop the butter cups into a glass jar and store in the fridge for your next oil pulling moment.

Makes 15 butter cups.

To oil pull safely: Place butter cup in mouth and let it dissolve into liquid, combining with your saliva. Swish the liquid around in your mouth for 20 minutes. Do not swallow. After 20 minutes, spit the oil into your trash can or outdoors rather than down the sink where it can harden again and mess with your plumbing!