Oil Pulling: My One Month Experience

It's been a month since I started oil pulling. 

A few of my initial hurdles:

• Flexibility: although my initial plan was to always oil pull while in the shower, I learned that it got complicated to work it before breakfast if I showered late (I like to see the steam coming off my scrambled eggs, not cold and rubbery, thank you very much!). So I tried to oil pull first thing in the morning, always before breakfast.
• Texture: oil pulling was easy in early October when we still had 80 degree weather and the coconut oil was liquid. Once the cooler weather hit and it solidified, I had to get over the "glob" in my mouth. The suggestion to just chew it helped (thanks Marla!).
• "Don't talk with your mouth full." A lesson in action when my children wanted to ask me questions while oil pulling ;)

My mental picture:

After reading the Oil Pulling book by Dr. Fife, I formulated this image in my mind when I oil pulled: I had a whole army of bad bacteria sitting in my mouth that had formed through the night. They were like a massive crowd of soldiers waiting to get past my throat to do whatever damage they could muster up. They hid between my teeth, behind my cheeks, under my tongue, hoping to ride the scrambled egg transport into my body like a Trojan horse. Enter the coconut oil (or, in my case, the coconut oil with a tad of sesame oil and a drop of peppermint oil). By swishing the oil through my teeth, across my tongue and around my cheeks (it must be oil, not another liquid, so that it can bind), those bad guys are whisked away from their hiding places and bound together by their fats. Twenty minutes of swishing wordlessly, my mouth is ready to be done with it: the swishing oil and the bad bacteria. Down the sink it goes. 

Did it help?

I need more than a month to really know if my teeth have improved. What would really tell me is a trip to the dentist. If I have a better than normal check up, I'm sold. I do notice that my teeth don't seem quite as sensitive (especially with the candy temptations I've succumbed to over the past couple of weeks). 

What others have noticed with their oil pulling:

I have found the conversations on Kitchen Stewardship's blog to be fascinating. Can you oil pull while pregnant or breastfeeding? (my opinion: I'm oil pulling even though I breastfeed my 1 yr old, but definitely do more research if you're concerned). What if you have amalgams (fillings) - can you oil pull? (Fife recommends you get them removed regardless of whether you oil pull or not).  Do you take breaks, a week on, a week off? (Fife has a "maintenance schedule" outlined of how often you should oil pull, depending on your situation). Is that black stuff in my toilet growing out of the crud I spit in there? (it's worth reading the comments just to get to that conversation!). 

So will I keep doing it?

Absolutely! The anecdotal evidence from the various comments are convincing enough to keep it up. There's really nothing to lose, and it does make me more aware of the health of my teeth. So I'm sticking with it. How about you?

Coconut oil for Oil Pulling

As I type, I'm swishing oil between my teeth. Yup, oil. Coconut oil, sesame oil, and spearmint essential oil, to be exact.

The idea behind oil pulling makes sense. My mouth is at just the right temperature to house billions of bacteria, multiplying constantly, and feeding on the egg salad, Brussels sprouts and watermelon I had for dinner. 

Inside my mouth-house are both good and bad bacteria. The bad guys cause cavities and gum disease; bad bacteria thrive on sugar, sugar is converted into acid, which erodes the enamel on teeth, and the end result are cavities. While sugar encourages the growth of this bad bacteria, my saliva counteracts the acid and gives me a more neutral pH balance. 

So how does swishing oil get rid of some of the bad bacteria?

The idea behind oil "pulling" is that the oil attracts the fatty membranes of the microorganisms and they come out of their hiding places between your teeth and around your gums. The longer you oil pull (20 minutes is recommended), the more microbes are pulled free and released from your mouth when you spit out the oil solution. You're getting rid of the bad stuff and freeing up your body to fight off any infections you might have. 

I personally chose this combination:

• coconut oil because it really doesn't matter what kind of oil you use and I like coconut oil for its many health benefits, 
• sesame oil because historically, sesame oil was used for oil pulling, and 
• spearmint essential oil because I personally need a little gum-feeling action with this new habit

I'm now 15 minutes into my oil pulling. I occasionally get the "gag" feeling but when I get that out of my head, I'm able to get back to swishing and not think too much about it. After I finish, I'll spit out the oil and clean  out my mouth with fresh water (swish and spit, repeat) before brushing. 

My battle against the bad bacteria will be complete for the night and I'll repeat the fight again tomorrow. 

Note: the information above is my interpretation of Dr. Bruce Fife's book Oil Pulling Therapy. My amounts of oils are approximately 3/4 tablespoon coconut oil, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and a drop of spearmint essential oil. At the time of publishing this blog, I've only oil pulled once a day for three days but I plan to continue the practice with the hopes of having fresher breath, whiter teeth and stonger gums. The practice will be easier when my children aren't asking "mom, what are you doing?" and "don't make her laugh!" while pulling oil. 

Have you practiced oil pulling? What's been your experience with it?