If you've nosed around holistic approaches to caring for your teeth, you've certainly come across oil pulling as a potential for restoring teeth and gum health. Several years ago, I did a some research on this topic and hosted a little workshop in our clinic, and I remember being rather impressed with the depth and consistency of support for oil pulling as an excellent healing modality for preventing, even halting, dental caries. Today, as I am updating our Thyroid Healing program, I am again digging into the literature on dental caries and oil pulling, because oral health is an important aspect of optimizing endocrine health.
A traditional Ayurvedic remedy, oil pulling has long been used to maintain oral health. It's a great option for those who prefer a holistic approach, with herbs and spices, rather than chemical-based allopathic medicines common to conventional medicine. Ayurvedic medicine has several proven practices; oil pulling is one of them (Shanbhag, 2016). There's evidence that gingival health is improved with oil pulling, as well as bleeding by reducing inflammation. It relieves dry mouth, throat, and chapped lips, as well as whitens teeth, reduces bad breath, and overall improves oral hygiene.
Oil pulling is a method of essentially swishing and gargling oil, allowing the oil to shuttle between the teeth. It's best done in the morning on an empty stomach. One simply spoons up a viscous, edible oil, often coconut, and let's that sit in the mouth until it becomes thin so that it can be swished between the teeth. The aim is about 10 to 20 minutes, but this is quite the workout initially. Try doing this just as you step into the shower, and see if you can swish throughout your morning routine, then spit into the trash. You'll be able to do this longer as you get more accustomed to it. Some studies evaluate once a day application, and others twice a day. Once done, brush and rinse your teeth.
Organic oils, whether sunflower oil, sesame oil, or coconut oil, are all great options (Shanbhag, 2016). Coconut oil has 92% saturated medium-chain fatty acids, most of which are lauric acid, which is both antibacterial and antifungal (Srivastava & Durgaprasad, 2008). It can oxidize sucrose on Streptococcus mutans, which maybe you are familiar with, as this is the bacteria that causes a multitude of cavities in the mouths of those who are a bit more genetically prone. This bacteria sits on the teeth, within a sticky biofilm, and breaks down the tooth enamel.
Coconut oil specifically has significant antimicrobial activity against Escherichia vulneris, Enterobcater spp., Helicobacter pylori, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida spp., including C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. stellatoidea and C. albicans in an in vitro oral biofilm model (Srivastava & Durgaprasad, 2008). The thought is that coconut oil alters the bacterial cell wall, penetrating and disrupting cell membranes, inhibits enzymes involved in energy production and nutrient transfer, causing death of the bacteria. There is even some data that coconut oil has anticarcinogenic effects against colon tumors (Tomar et al., 2014).
Oil pulling has demonstrated effectiveness in preventing regeneration and reattachment of plaque, ultimately being quite aggressive against the efforts of our oral bacteria in creating dental caries (Peedikayil et al., 2015 & Dayrit, 2015). Previous studies have also demonstrated the efficacy of coconut oil against Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans (Naseem et al., 2017). This really is very impressive, as dental caries and periodontal diseases are the two globally leading oral afflictions which can be effectively prevented and controlled by an effective plaque control method (Nagilla et al., 2017). There's also minimal risk.
Continue to Brush & Floss
Mechanical tooth cleaning even today remains the most dependable method for effective plaque control, so don't stop brushing and flossing. Clinically chlorhexidine has been the gold standard for treatment of both dental caries and periodontal diseases, but it has certain disadvantages, such as not tasting so fabulous, tooth staining, and it can cause altered taste sensation (Shanbhag, 2016).
References
Dayrit, F. M. (2015). The properties of lauric acid and their significance in coconut oil. Journal of American Oil Chemists' Socieity, 92, 1-15.
Nagilla, J., Kulkarni, S., Madupu, P. R., Doshi, D., Bandari, S. R., & Srilatha, A. (2017). Comparative evaluation of antiplaque efficacy of coconut oil pulling and a placebo, among dental college students: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Diagnostic Research, 11(9).
Naseem, M., Khiyani, M. F., Nauman, H., Zafar, M. S., Shah, A. H., & Khalil, H. S. (2017). Oil pulling and importance of traditional medicine in oral health maintenance. International Journal of Health Science, 11, 65-70.
Peedikayil, F. C., Sreenivasan, P., & Narayanan, A. (2015). Effect of coconut oil in plaque related gingivitis - a preliminary report. Nigerian Medicine Journal, 56, 143-147.
Peng, T-R., Cheng, H-Y., Wu, T-W., & Ng, B-K. (2022). Effectiveness of oil pulling for improving oral health: a meta-analysis. Healthcare, 10(10), 1991.
Shanbhag, V. K. (2016). Oil pulling for maintaining oral hygiene - a review. Journal for Traditional Complementary Medicine, 7, 106-109.
Srivastava, P. & Durgaprasad, S. (2008). Burn wound healing property of Cocos nucifera: an appraisal. Indian Journal of Pharmacology, 40, 144-146.
Tomar, P., Hongal, S., Jain, M., Rana, K., & Saxena, V. (2014). Oil pulling and oral health: a review. IJSS Case Report & Reviews, 1(3), 33-37.
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