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Jains considers it a great penance to wash the dish in which they eat food after meal and drink the wash out. This awareness entails them to use up the food remains not only stuck to the utensils in which they eat but also inside the mouth, which eventually cleans the teeth and gums after meal. If one gargle with water between teeth to rinse food particles out after meal one does not require to brush the teeth. It reaches those pocket areas between teeth and gums that cannot be maintained with the tooth brush which leaves plaque mostly untouched.It also stimulates the gum tissue to increase the flow of blood, which brings nutrition and oxygen to that area. It will also remove waste from the tissue. This is done to all the gums and teeth and one who does so need not visit a dentist in his life time.
Oral hygiene is an important adjunct of the hygiene of the body. What happens in mouth is actually a mirror for the whole body. Defective teeth are a threat to health by reason of impairment of mastication and consequently of digestion, the admixture of healthy saliva especially in the digestion of starch. Calorieadjusted nutrient intakes decrease with progressively impaired dentition status, independently of age, smoking status and alcohol use. Intakes of fibre and most vitamins and minerals are inversely correlated with masticatory function. Bacteria harboured in the cavity of teeth may infect the general digestive system by being swallowed with the food are forced into the circulation and may be carried to distant parts. They clog and obstruct the small tissues, interfering with the nutrition of the joint tissues, causing deformity, enlargement and acute inflammations, such as rheumatic fever.
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