Oil Pulling: should you try it?
Oil pulling is the next product we are reviewing in our natural dental product blog series.
Oil pulling has recently become very popular especially on social media. The most common claimed benefits are:
- Whiter teeth
- Detoxes the body and overall improves oral health
It originates from an ancient Indian ayurvedic practice dating back over 3000 years ago. The procedure involves swishing approximately 1 teaspoon of oil in your mouth for several minutes. Does it work? YES? NO? Well our entire dental team were curious to try it out for ourselves to see if any of the claims were true…
DETAILS:
Keeko Oil Pulling Kit, Lucky Dip, 14x 10mL pastel coloured sachets (2 week treatment). Included flavours: Sweet Sensation, Morning Mint, Citrus Burst.
COST:
$35.10 from Nourished Life. This equates to $2.50 per treatment, which is quite expensive considering the ingredients are coconut oil and essential oils.
EASE OF USE:
Warming the sachet in your hands makes the oil turn back into a liquid. You then pour it into your mouth and swish. The recommended time for pulling was 5-15 minutes. We tried it for 5 minutes. In actual fact, none of us could honestly get past 5 minutes.
TASTE:
The taste of each different flavour wasn’t too strong, but I wouldn’t describe it as very pleasant. I liked the Citrus Burst best.
DQ STAFF RATING:
VERDICT:
The overall sensation is quite disconcerting. It feels as though you are swishing lots of extra saliva in your mouth. Getting through 5 minutes of oil pulling is hard enough, the maximum time of 15 minutes would be some feat!
We decided to test whether oil pulling would actually remove any bacteria from our teeth. We used a gel that stains for plaque and decay causing bacteria before and after pulling.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
There is a very slight decrease in the amount of plaque on my teeth. To be honest, this could have been caused by my lips rubbing on my teeth while swishing the oil around and I would probably be better off just brushing my teeth more thoroughly.
DOES IT MAKE YOUR TEETH WHITER?
It isn’t clear whether the two week treatment would be sufficient to whiten teeth significantly as none of our team would volunteer to try it for two weeks after their 5 minute experience. Also, there was no information as to whether the practice should be done for just two weeks, or on a more regular basis.
WOULD A DENTIST RECOMMEND IT?
Interestingly, the packaging states that keeko oil is recommended by a dentist. When we had a look at this, the dentist in question couldn’t state any scientific evidence or scientifically-backed reasons behind the purported benefits.
There is little or no scientific evidence to prove that oil pulling benefits oral health. The keeko oil website states the following health benefits:
- whiter teeth
- banishes bad breath
- helps to prevent cavities
- glowing skin
- detoxifies mouth and body
- strengthens teeth and gums
Whilst it is definitely not a harmful practice, whether it has strong benefits to the mouth are yet to be proven. Oil pulling certainly would be beneficial 3000 years ago when there were no modern dental products such as toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwashes. We’re pretty fortunate that these kinds of products are so readily available.
We recommend checking out out article on natural toothbrushes here: Natural Toothpastes, are they effective?
From an ethical point of view, we simply can’t recommend any practice that isn’t backed by scientific evidence. If you must, a more cost-effective option would be to use coconut oil (used for cooking) rather than buying pre-packaged sachets.
If you enjoy the practice of oil pulling, we don’t think there is any harm in continuing with it. However, oil pulling should certainly not be considered a replacement for standard oral hygiene practices. If you do have 5-15 minutes to spare in the bathroom, try flossing…and save on time, money and a few teeth!
