Oil Pulling, an Ancient Ritual That Requires People to Swish Oil in Their Mouth for Three to Five Minutes for Healthy Gums
08/30/2016 / By holisticdentistry
Forget Listerine and Scope.
Article by Jen Rini
Phyllis Kelly grabs something else to cleanse her gums during her morning routine: olive oil.
Yes, olive oil. Kelly keeps a squirt bottle of the oil in her bathroom. She pours a dollop in her mouth, of no specific measurement, and swirls it around her palate.
While she’s rinsing, she will make the bed, lay out her clothes for the day and even do the dishes. Then she spits it out, like mouthwash.
“Before I do anything I do that,” Kelly said. “It’s very refreshing.”
Known as oil pulling, the practice of using edible oil as a type of mouth rinse dates back more than 3,000 years to traditional Indian medicine. A review of holistic dentistry in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine says that oil pulling is known as Kavala or Gandusha in the ancient text Charaka Samhita.
It is cited as curing 30 diseases, from headaches to asthma, and has been used in folk remedies to prevent tooth decay and improve gum health. Recently, it has seen a resurgence in popularity, but dentists still want more scientific evidence on how beneficial it really is.
Incoming Delaware State Dental Society President Dr. James Kramer, a general dentist who practices in Selbyville, said he had heard about oil pulling, but it is not one of the mainstays in clinical dental care.
“My gut feeling is it probably isn’t going to hurt anything, but I’d stick to what is tried and true,” Kramer said.
The American Dental Association issued a statement on oil pulling that did not recommend it as a “supplementary oral hygiene practice” nor as a replacement for standard tooth brushing and cleaning with floss.
The best thing a patient can do, Kramer said, is discuss the practice with their dentist.
Cheyenne Luzader, the integrative health coordinator for Beebe Healthcare, first practiced oil pulling years ago after learning about it from her yoga teacher.
“I ran out of a bottle and didn’t buy a new one,” she said. But three months ago she picked it back up again.
“I like it much better than using a mouthwash and I just thought I used to like doing that and I thought I don’t know why I stopped,” she said.
Luzader said her dentist recently complimented her on how healthy and pink her gums looked, before even knowing she started oil pulling.
Healthy gums not only make a nice smile, but are thought of as the first line of defense against health risks, including premature births, heart disease and complications from diabetes.
Phyllis Kelly of Lincoln brushes are teeth after doing oil pulling, an ancient ritual that requires people to swish oil in their mouth for three to five minutes for healthy gums. (Photo: JASON MINTO/THE NEWS JOURNAL)
Both Luzader and Kelly use olive oil to improve their gum health, but traditionally people used sunflower or sesame oils and gargle for up to 5 minutes.
Swish and chew about one or two teaspoons of the oil first thing in the morning, Luzador recommends. Using your tongue, push the oil through the teeth and around the cheek and gums.
With a consistency that is thinner than yogurt, the oil thins out quickly from saliva.
Do not swallow the oil. She recommends spitting out the oil in the toilet rather than the sink to avoid clogging pipes.
You may see white gunk mixed in with the oil, Luzader said, which is pulled out from the teeth.
“I think well OK I’m really clear today,” she said. “It makes me think I’m getting rid of germs.”
Some research that compares an oil rinse with a typical mouthwash does seem to back that up.
Mouths are a breeding ground for Streptococcus mutans, a bacteria that forms plaque, the sticky, mineral crust on teeth. Untreated plaque eats away at the enamel on teeth, causing decay and gum disease.
Researchers from the Meenakshi Ammal Dental College randomly divided 20 adolescent boys into two groups and had one group use typical mouthwash with chlorhexidine antiseptic for two weeks, while the other practiced oil pulling.
The results, published in the Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry found that the amount of Streptococcus mutans bacteria in all boys’ mouths was reduced by about half.
Phyllis Kelly of Lincoln practices oil pulling, an ancient ritual that requires people to swish oil in their mouth for three to five minutes for healthy gums. (Photo: JASON MINTO/THE NEWS JOURNAL)
Kelly, who volunteers for Beebe’s integrative medicine division, said she has had some dental issues so she wants to be as proactive as possible with her oral health.
She feels that oil pulling is the way to go.
“I don’t even want to think about going to the chompers (dentures) so to speak,” she said.
Though at first she could only swish the oil for about a minute, now she forgets that she is doing it most days.
“I don’t even keep track any more,” Kelly said. “It’s no muss no fuss.”
Jen Rini can be reached at (302)324-2386 or [email protected]. Follow @JenRini on Twitter.
Read more at delawareonline.com
Tagged Under: alternative medicine, Holistic Dentistry, oil pulling
