Gandusha
The Ayurvedic mouth bath: the mouth filled with oil held completely still — the traditional, static version of oil pulling, for oral hygiene.
Gandusha comes from the Sanskrit gandusha, the mouthful that fills the mouth. The technique consists of holding a quantity of oil — traditionally sesame — in the mouth, without moving it around, until the eyes or nose begin to water, the classic sign of saturation. It is the static form of the oil mouth bath, to be distinguished from kavala, in which a smaller quantity of liquid is actively swished around.
Classical texts such as the Ashtanga Hridayam describe gandusha among the daily care practices for the mouth, alongside tongue scraping. Tradition credits it with benefits for the gums, the breath, the voice and even the jaw. What the West now calls oil pulling is in fact a hybrid of the two practices, generally closer to kavala. Depending on the imbalance being addressed, tradition sometimes replaces the oil with an herbal decoction or warm salted water.
A concrete example: in the morning, after tongue scraping and before brushing, hold a tablespoon of sesame oil in the mouth for three to five minutes, then spit it into a trash bin (never into the sink — the oil solidifies) and rinse with warm water. The complete practice, the choice between coconut and sesame, and modern dentistry’s view of it are detailed in our guide to oil pulling, a natural companion to tongue scraping.