OIL Pulling for a Healthy Mouth

Our mouths are full of microorganisms (or microbes for short). In fact there are more of them in our mouth than people living on this planet! That’s both gross and incredible to me. Thankfully these microbes are necessary and quite beneficial. As is the variety of people in the world, so is the variety of microbes in our mouth! There’s a different community type at the back, to the side, to the front, and everywhere in between. As they take care of us for their whole lives, it is our job to make sure they’re all well cared for too. To do this it means maintaining a proper balance of all the microbes in your mouth. A very simple way to achieve this is Oil Pulling, which I will speak about in a moment. However doing this alone will not counter a bad diet, which is one of the fastest ways to kill off the good microbes. To help maintain a good environment in your mouth make sure to;

Keep fully hydrated

Eat more vegetables than meat

And STOP the dairy, wheat and refined sugars.

Refined sugar is one of the worst things you can put in your body. It feeds the pathogenic microbes that are living in the mouth. These, if unchecked, can start eating away at the enamel on your teeth and we all know where that leads. I don’t know about you but I would prefer not to spend a fortune at the dentist every few months. Thankfully, as I mentioned earlier, a very simple thing we can all do to maintain a proper balance in the mouth is Oil Pulling.

The practice of Oil Pulling has been around for over 3,000 years! First originating in India with Ayurvedic medicine, used for purifying the body by pulling out toxins through the gums and mouth.

Oil Pulling is taking a spoonful of coconut oil and swishing it around in your mouth for about 10-20 minutes then spitting it out. Pretty simple right? But please DON’T spit it down the sink! The coconut oil will cool and harden, which will then block up your drains. Spit it outside on the grass or soil to let the microbes there eat up the waste. ALSO rinse out your mouth with water straight after to get all the ‘dirty’ oil out. This is a simple and easy way to maintain a good balance of the microbes in your mouth.

Oil Pulling does exactly what it sounds like, it pulls waste out of the tongue, pulls waste out of the glands under the tongue, and pulls waste out of the blood vessels under the tongue. And very helpful for reducing plaque build-up and help prevent plaque-induced gingivitis. The longer you push and pull the oil through your mouth the more microbes are pulled free. The oil needs to be swished around long enough for it to turn a milky white. Just take around a half to full teaspoon of good quality unrefined organic coconut oil and swish it around your mouth like a regular mouthwash. If you’re in a colder climate or it’s winter the coconut oil may go hard, thats no problem just let it melt for a few seconds on your tongue before swishing it around.

There are some other oils that people use for Oil Pulling but I have only used Coconut Oil. Not only is the flavour not bad, it is pretty easy to come by, not too expensive and also naturally contains antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.

You do not need to brush your teeth before Oil Pulling as the process will remove food and bacteria from the mouth. However, it is important to brush afterwards to ensure that all the toxins that are drawn out of the mouth are removed entirely.