What Is Oil Pulling
Many of us are just finding out about it, but oil pulling has been around for a long time. The idea behind oil pulling is that by swishing or holding the oil in your mouth for a period of time you will improve not only your oral health, but your overall health as well when done on a regular basis. The belief is that the oil will pull out toxins that are interfering with your health.
Traditionally oil pulling was done with sesame oil and sunflower oil, but coconut oil has become increasingly popular due to its’ antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and enzymatic properties. So oil pulling with coconut oil can provide the added benefit of killing any unwanted bacteria that may be residing in the mouth while pulling out the toxins from your body.
Benefits
Reported health benefits include a benefit in conditions such as headaches, migraines, insomnia, diabetes mellitus, joint pain/arthritis fatigue, allergies, asthma, acne, and bad breath, as well as whitening teeth and improvement in other tooth and gum problems.
What Type of Oil Should Be Used
When you go to buy coconut oil you will find a variety to choose from. Since you will be swishing the coconut oil in your mouth you might be tempted to buy coconut oil that is already in liquid form, but you want to avoid this “fractionated oil.” Fractionated coconut oil is coconut oil that has had its fatty acids separated out for different uses, such as medical uses, cosmetics or special diets. This fractionated oil does not have all the beneficial natural fatty acids, such as lauric acid, that are in non-fractionated oil. Instead, you want to look for 100% natural organic extra virgin coconut oil, which is the same type you would use for cooking. This type of coconut oil is solid at room temperature, but melts at around 76 degrees. So it will start turning to a liquid as soon as you put it in your mouth.
Some of our favorite types of coconut oil that you can use for oil pulling are shown below (Please note that the product links immediately below this are affiliate links. You WILL NOT be charged any extra fees if you click on these product links and decide to buy them.):
How to Do It
- In the morning before eating or drinking anything start by placing 1 – 2 teaspoons of coconut oil in your mouth. I find that after the coconut oil melts and combines with the saliva in my mouth it can become quite a lot. So I usually use closer to 1 teaspoon.
- Once the oil melts begin to swish the oil around your mouth and pull it between your teeth to make sure it touches all of the surfaces of your teeth and gums. Do not gargle.
- Relax and continue to hold and swish the coconut oil in your mouth between 15 and 20 minutes.
- When you are finished simply spit the oil out into your garbage. A lot of people will want to spit the oil out into their sink or toilet, but you don’t want to do that. Remember that coconut oil is solid a room temperature. So even though it is a liquid when you spit it out it will solidify quickly and clog your plumbing and septic system (if you live in a rural area) if you don’t spit it out in your garbage.
- After you are finished it is important to brush your teeth to clean your mouth completely after toxins have been drawn out. Some people also like to rinse their mouth with warm salt water after oil pulling. I usually rinse with warm salt water followed by brushing my teeth.
- You can repeat this process several times per week, or daily.
If You Want to Learn More
If you want to learn more about oil pulling with coconut oil you might be interested in reading Oil Pulling Therapy: Detoxifying and Healing the Body Through Oral Cleansing by Dr. Bruce Fife. In his book, Dr. Fife discusses how your oral health impacts the rest of your body and how oil pulling can help your overall health.
Conclusion
If you look at all therapies, supplements, and medications, no matter how wonderful they are you will note that no one thing helps people 100 percent of the time. Understanding this helps explain away detractors who say that oil pulling or oil pulling with coconut doesn’t work because it didn’t help them.
Other people will say that not enough research has been done to study the effects of oil pulling with coconut oil. Depending on what you are looking for that might be true, but you need to understand that when a new medication comes on the market the pharmaceutical company that developed it has paid an immense amount of money for studies to be done in order to demonstrate that their product is safe. These pharmaceutical companies pay this money because there is a great deal of money to be made if their product or medication is approved. Who wants to pay a bunch of money to study oil pulling with something that is already in so many homes? Nobody does. That is because there is no money in it for them.
So, in the end, why not try oil pulling with coconut oil. There are a multitude of people who say that it has provided them with health benefits. Plus many trusted medical professionals like Dr. Andrew Weil openly states that oil pulling is perfectly safe. So unless there is a medical reason why you cannot use coconut oil what do you have to lose? Just your poor health.
