When I was a kid and my brother and I were accusing each other of starting it, my mom would tell us to stick out our tongues. After careful inspection she would say, ok, I know who is telling the tuth and that would be that. The fight would end because how can you fight when you are completely absorbed by the question of how mom can know the truth by looking at our tongues?!

I've been thinking about this because I've been looking at my own tongue lately. The same way that the tail can wag the dog, the tongue can wag the person.

In ancient cultures one very basic health practice that is only now being inroduced to modern civilization is tongue scraping. One visit every six months to the dentist can't compare to the benefits of a little scraping every day. Best to use metal not plastic.

And lay off the ADA approved alchohol based mouthwashes which completely throw off the PH balance of your mouth. Better to use water and a little bit of pepermint oil. And/or clove. And/or cinammon oil.

For the past year I've been using a 3% mix of Hydrogen peroxide with some cinnamon oil for disinfecting. I was using it every day but have recently learned that also is too extreme for the flora in the mouth. So I've dialed back to once or twice a week. You can also throw those little oil bottles in your bag or car and freshen up wth that instead of sugary altoids or gum.

One other key to mouth heath is tongue placement.

About a year ago I was experiencing a lot of TMJ. My dentist suggested a night guard. How much? $400! If I'm going to spend $400 on something to wear in bed it's going to be a lot sexier than a night guard! So I started looking into what else I could do.

One totally free option was to be more conscious of my tongue placement. I found out I'm not supposed to rest my tongue on the top of my mouth. Of course if you know me, you're probably thinking well that's no problem because your tongue is never at rest anyway!

So where are you supposed to rest your tongue?

Take the tip of it and place it at the very front of the roof, right where the front teeth meet the tissue. Curve the rest of the tongue away, hollowing it out. This relaxes the muscles and stimulates the pineal gland at the same time. For you yogis, the pineal gland is the scientific way of saying the third eye.

And finally on tongue health: Speak lovingly and kindly and with joy! Speak the truth. And if you do all these things you will always feel okay about sticking out your tongue.

Oh, and I'm still working out the toothpaste issue. Any suggestions?