Your built-in diagnostic tool.

INSIGHT

Our mouths are the windows to our guts (and our health).

We are only just starting to understand the function of the microbiota of the mouth. We know its comprised of good and bad bacteria, and have an oral hygiene industry hell-bent on killing all germs to give us pearly whites. However, that microbial environment speaks volumes about our overall mouth-to-gut health, being the first port of entry into our digestive tract; and we may be removing important information with all our brushing and tongue scraping. For instance, new studies are coming out that certain bacteria living on the tongue can distinguish patients with early pancreatic cancers from healthy individuals. Who knows what other strains of varying microbial diversities can unveil diseases and conditions that will need early detection and care.

On the non-disease side, there is evidence that can now show a higher taste responsiveness and perception to certain foods based on tongue microbiota composition: distinguishing the super tasters and non-tasters. Whether this opens up avenues to actions one can take to change their tongue microbial diversities to not only improve health but to become more sensitive to foods for enjoyment is an entirely new horizon to explore. So is the idea that long-term intimate kissing can create different tongue microbiome colonization, something that could have long-term health effects between two people if they aren’t cautious of the ‘quality of their tongues’ — an area of mate evaluation perhaps, Tinder?

We no longer are what we eat, but we are what grows on us with these vastly populated regions of bacterial communities, out-numbering our own cellular material 10-to-1; and on our tongues, about 100-200 species of bacteria populating the cozy crevices of our papillae (taste buds) at any given time. And the more diverse the better, so that overgrowth of one does not compromise our health over time. We need a better system of reading this oral jungle to help identify through early detection what needs attention in our overall ecosystem so that our health is no longer a matter of trouble-shooting but diagnostic-analysis to uncover root causes.

INSPIRATION

Tongue Scrappers

On a site with many great products promoting a healthy mouth, GiveMeTheDirt has a pure copper tongue scraper that’s simple and effective. Made from a material that is naturally anti-microbial and promoting to natural enzymes needed in the mouth, this simply designed scraper is the secret weapon to your oral care arsenal and really improves the brushing act by first removing excess bacteria that can get moved around into gums and volatile sulphur compounds on the tongue that can lead to bad breath.

Also on this site dedicated to clean teeth and natural products are some really great reframes of old time favorites:

Trace Mineral Brushing Tooth Powders

Oil Pulling Mouth Washes

Aroma-Oil Breath Sprays

Plastic-Free Silk Floss

Coconut Oil and Charcoal Toothpastes

Bamboo Toothbrushes

You'll feel like you're mouth is having a jungle party!

INNOVATION

“Tongue Reader”

Copper tongue scraper with a bacterial sensor that reads your current health constitution and offers tips on what you should eat over the next 24 hours to bring body back into balance.

• A daily diagnostic that tracks microbial balance to offer suggestions for minimizing overgrowth and maximizing diversity for overall healthcare.

• Different bacterial streams also offer insight into our health condition: from inflammation to pathogenic intrusion, from poor gut function to dehydration and overexertion, from poor circulation to psychological stress. Knowing how to read these before they turn into illness or breakdown of our immune system to compensate for the imbalance bring preventative medicine to a simple daily device used every time you brush.

• The sensor reads your tongue and delivers a report and recommendation for alleviation, which if followed diligently can often alter within 24-48 hours.

• Your reports are saved into a monthly reading chart which can be shown to your holistic doctors (Naturopaths, TCM, Ayurveda, Internist) using simple language that crossover many medical models.