Oil pulling is an ancient traditional Ayurvedic practice from India to remove bacteria from the mouth. You are required to swish oil inside your mouth to pull out bacteria from teeth and gums to kill them. Recently oil pulling has been given a very good PR, as a result more and more people are practicing it for maintaining better oral hygiene and gaining other health benefits.
There is not much research done on oil pulling, but some recent studies have indicated its beneficial impact on teeth and gums health. Though there are many other benefits offered by oil pulling, dental health certainly tops the list.
How to Oil Pull
Before you learn how to do oil pulling, take following into consideration.
- Do it first thing in the morning after getting out of the bed and before brushing your teeth.
- Do not drink or eat anything before oil pulling
- Make sure that the oil doesn't go down your throat. Spit the oil out after completing oil pulling.
Oil pulling is a very simple process as described under:
- Take one tablespoon of oil ( Sesame, coconut or olive oil) in your mouth.
- Swish it 10-20 minutes. Initially you can do it for 10 minutes a day and gradually increase to 20 minutes and then stay with 20 minutes.
- Spit out the oil
- Rinse your mouth with warm water. You can use salt water for even better results.
- Brush your teeth as you normally do
- Do it daily
Anyone from young kids to old people can do oil pulling. Kids will require less quantity of oil. Teach them how to swish and ensure that they don't let the oil go down their throats
You will begin to experience benefits almost immediately. However, in order to get the best results you need to do oil pulling every day for months. In fact you can add this as your daily dental hygiene practice for ever. Oil pulling is one of the most inexpensive ways to keep your mouth clean of bacteria.
If you can't spare 20 minutes early in the morning for oil pulling then you can do it anytime during the day. You will still benefit from it. Morning oil pulling is the best as the overnight bacterial growth inside the mouth can be remedied first thing in the morning.
Benefits of Oil Pulling
It is not just the oral health benefits alone, but oil pulling offers numerous other benefits too. Most prominent ones are explained below.
1. Oil Pulling Reduces Bad Bacteria in the Mouth
Bacteria in the mouth are main causes of all sorts of dental and other problems. The anti-inflammatory capabilities of oils like sesame oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil and olive oil helps to combat bacteria.
Swishing helps to remove bacteria from the teeth and gums which comes in contact with the oil and gets killed. The reduction in bacteria in the mouth maintains your teeth and overall oral hygiene better.
2. Oil Pulling Can Reduce Plaque
Plaque on gums increases swelling and bleeding. The gum condition is known as gingivitis.
Bacteria in the plaque causes inflammation and bleeding.
Mouthwash is used in early stages of this gum disease to kill bacteria and reduce inflammation. Various studies have been conducted to compare the impact of oil pulling with mouthwash on gingivitis. All the studies have found that oil pulls is as good as using mouthwash.
3. Oil Pulling Removes Bad Breath
Almost every second person is affected by the bad breath problems. There are a number of causes for bad breath, but one of the most prominent one is bacteria in the mouth. The condition is called Halitosis. Any infection or inflammation in the teeth or gum as well as bacterial coating on the tongue can cause bad breath.
Since oil pulling has been proven to kill bacteria in the mouth, bad breath is reduced within a week of use of oil pulling. Many studies have shown that the impact of oil pulling on bad breath is as good as some of the conventional antibiotics used for removing bad breath.
4. Oil Pulling Can Reduce Cavities
Formation of cavities is one of the most common dental problems. Tooth gradually decays causing cavities.
The gradual tooth decay happens because of accumulation of harmful bacteria in the mouth. Oil pulling certainly has proven to kill these harmful bacteria due to anti anti-inflammatory capabilities of the oils used. Coconut oil with lauric acid is an excellent anti inflammatory agent.
5. Other Benefits of Oil Pulling
Although many people claim many different benefits ranging from skin improvement, to hormone balance, arthritis relief and improved heart conditions, there is no concrete Scientific studies to back these claims up.
Therefore used oil pulling primarily for your oral health and every other benefit should be taken as a bonus. As mood studies are done on oil pulling more benefits will be established.
Which is the Best Oil for Oil Pulling
Historically sesame oil is used for oil pulling in India. That is natural as I sesame is a common staple in India. Even coconut oil has also been used for oil pulling. You can use olive oil also.
Commercially all these oils are generally available in refined forms. You have to specifically look for unrefined oils.
Unrefined virgin oils are the best oils. Do not use refined oil as the results will not be as good.
All of these oils have anti-inflammatory capabilities, and swishing stimulates more saliva production. The agitation created by swishing pulls out the bad bacteria from the teeth and gum and settles I in the form of plaque and kills them.
Virgin coconut oil can be easily prepared at home, that is why it is gaining more popularity as an oil pulling medium. It is also easily absorbable, therefore it offers many other health benefits such as better skin.
Are There Any Side Effects?
Fortunately there are no side effects of oil pulling. If you have feelings and crowns on your teeth then you may have to be careful.
Although oil pulling does not loosen your crown or fillings, it may loosen up the fillings if the underlying tooth is infected. If all teeth are in good condition and are not infected then oil pulling will not have any impact on the crowns or the fillings.
Since everyone is different, some people may feel jaw soreness. Under those circumstances just reduce the swishing speed.
In some cases sinuses may be opened up releasing mucus. This is harmless but if you feel uncomfortable then reduce the frequency of oil pulling.
Other than taking these specific precautions, that too in only certain cases, you really don't have to worry about any side effects of oil pulling.
Oil pulling is not only beneficial to your oral health but it improves your overall health. So go for it.