To be honest, when I first started writing this article, I had no idea what oil pulling was. Actually, I thought it had to do with your hair because I thought I saw it on Memoirs of a Geisha. As it turns out, oil pulling is not used on your hair, but your mouth. According to FoodMatters, oil pulling is an ancient Ayurvedic (a branch medicine practiced by the Hindi, from what I can tell) technique for… well, cleaning your mouth.
Supposedly, oil pulling is supposed to detoxify your mouth, increase strength in your gums, teeth and jaws, as well as prevent cavities and gingivitis, and prevent dryness in your lips, mouth and throat. It’s also supposed to help treat headaches, overall sore jaws, and TMJ. Nobody likes dry lips, right? Right, so, I figured I’d try it out and see what all the hype is about for myself. In the meantime, here’s what you do:
- Take a teaspoon of an organic, high-quality oil (the most common are sesame or coconut). Most actually recommend a tablespoon, but wellness educator, Valerie Lavigne posts on her blog that less is more due to the intensity of the detoxifying that oil pulling does.
- Stick it in your mouth and swish it around for 5-10 minutes. According to FoodMatters, you should do this for 15-20 minutes, but I could barely keep it in my mouth for seven!
- Be CAREFUL. Oil pulling essentially “pulls” all of your body’s toxins out through your mouth, so make sure you do not swallow any of it and you spit it out carefully.
- Brush your teeth and rinse your mouth out well and you’re done!
Sounds simple, right? And if it helps fight plaque too, it must be great. However, DentalCareToday states that, contrary to popular belief, plaque is not fat-soluble, and it’s actually very complex and will take more than some organic oil to remove it.
Needless to say, I was a little skeptical before trying it myself. When reading my conclusion, please keep in mind that I’ve only tried it once, and most people recommend doing it over a decently long period of time.
First off, I used coconut oil. Swishing anything in my mouth has always been uncomfortable, so you can imagine what swishing oil felt like. The thing about coconut oil is the fact that I actually had to chew it to get it into a liquid state so I could do the swishing. After about 30seconds, my jaws were starting to get sore. Like I said earlier, I only lasted about 7 minutes. It is extremely uncomfortable (especially for those of us with a sensitive gag reflex, it’s really hard not to swallow).
Once I spit it out and brushed my teeth, however, I was mildly impressed. My lips and throat did, in fact, feel less dry. I’m not sure how it helps with jaw soreness, though, because my jaw is actually sorer now than it was before.
In any event, everybody is different and I feel like if it’s used sparingly, over a long period of time, oil pulling could actually work. It just isn’t my cup of tea.
Have you tried oil pulling? What did you think? Let us know by leaving a comment below!