Oil pulling is an ancient Ayurvedic practice in which you swish oil (usually coconut oil) around your mouth for at least ten to twenty minutes, before spitting out. The oil pulling process produces natural saliva, and is said to remove toxins within the mouth, improving oral hygiene and helping to fight tooth decay. The practice has become increasingly popular in the last couple of years, and is said to be an effective alternative to using dental floss.
How Does Coconut Oil Pulling Work
Coconut oil pulling is a technique to clean the teeth and gums. The process is done by swishing coconut oil in your mouth for about 15-20 minutes and spitting it out. This removes dirt, bacteria, plaque, and toxins from the teeth.
Coconut oil pulling has been known to have numerous health benefits such as fighting dental cavities, preventing oral cancer, reducing periodontal disease, delaying Alzheimer’s disease onset.
The most important thing to realize with coconut oil pulling is that it is not going to give you the same result as traditional dental treatments or medication. It will simply try to scrub off bacteria and toxins from your mouth but will not replace them with anything else.
The practice, which involves swishing an oil around one’s teeth, has been around for at least millennia, but recent studies suggest it might be out-of-date. But by this time, oral health practitioners like dentists are recommending other practices like regular brushing and flossing is more effective, so it’s important to maintain a good healthy dental hygiene routine with brushing, flossing and mouth wash, and you can then add oil pulling into the routine as an additional step, but not as a replacement to your usual dental hygiene routine.