Oil Pulling & Health

Do you have a history of problems with your teeth and gums? When speaking with people, are you ever concerned that your breath smells bad?

Could health challenges like arthritis and cardiovascular disease be related to your dental problems? Yes!

Recent science indicates that oral health tremendously impacts the health of your entire body.

A Simple, Inexpensive, Non-Invasive Health Practice that is Extraordinarily Effective

Oil pulling is, quite possibly the easiest way for you to improve your health status. Breathing air and drinking water are the only two impactful health maintenance activities that are easier. Oil pulling requires no health care providers, no medications or supplements, and no equipment. Swish vegetable oil around in your mouth every day, and that's it!

Oil pulling does not cure anything! It does pull pathogenic organisms and toxins out of your mouth, thus removing them from your body. This reduces the load that your immune system has to contend with, making it easier for your body to heal itself.

Microbes Populate Your Mouth

There are more bacteria, viruses, and fungi in your mouth than you can imagine! Some are important for the health of your digestive system and the functioning of your body as a whole. Others have the potential to be pathogenic, if their numbers were to grow unrestrained.

When your mouth is healthy, pathogenic organisms are kept under control by your digestive and immune systems. But if you have even low levels of infection in your teeth or gums (and practically everyone does, whether they are aware of it or not), the bacteria enter into your bloodstream. They then migrate to locations where they are free to proliferate, contributing to a whole host of health conditions that are not conventionally associated with oral health.

Ayurvedic in Origins, Updated to Current Times

Practitioners of Ayurvedic medicine have used oil pulling for generations. Swishing vegetable oil in the mouth draws bacteria out of the mouth, and therefore out of the body. You then spit the oil out, disposing of the bacteria along with the oil.

The technique has been refined to be more effective. A particularly beneficial modification is the switch to coconut oil, from sunflower or other oils.

Coconut oil has several benefits compared with other oils, recommending it as particularly suitable for oil pulling.

1) Taste and consistency. Coconut oil tastes better and is more palatable to have in your mouth than are other oils.

2) It's just food! There are no doctor's prescriptions or oversight. And if you've already got coconut oil for cooking, there's nothing special to buy. (If you read Bruce Fife's books about coconut oil, you'll become a fan too. It is fantastic as a nutritive food for daily consumption, and it is safe to use in cooking. I blogged about this back in 2007. If you don't know about the benefits of coconut oil, this is worth checking out.)

3) Anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic. All by itself, coconut oil has these tremendous beneficial qualities. This anti-microbial property of coconut oil makes it extraordinarily effective for oil pulling. You're engaging in the practice to remove bacteria and other pathogens. Why not use a safe, anti-bacterial food substance as the vehicle?

How does it get any better than that??

Oil Pulling Therapy: Detoxifying and Healing the Body Through Oral Cleansing  - A Must-Read Book

This book by Bruce Fife, C.N., N.D. is awesome!  He explains it all, the why's and how's of oil pulling. He does it so much better than I do, that I'm mostly going to quote from him.  (Here is a link to the book on Amazon.)

Of course, the most direct benefit is to your oral health. Most of the stories in the book relate to non-oral changes that people have experienced, perhaps because the changes are so significant.

Here are a few Why's for you from the book. Oil Pulling Therapy: Detoxifying and Healing the Body Through Oral Cleansing, by Bruce Fife, C.N., N.D.

"Humans have more bacteria in their mouths than dogs do. Considering all the disgusting places where dogs like to stick their muzzles, their mouths are amazingly clean. You would pick up more germs from kissing your spouse on the lips than you would from kissing the mouth of a drooling dog! . . . Dogs have antibodies in their saliva that are not found in the human mouth. These antibodies kill disease-causing germs."

"The average toilet seat harbors fewer bacteria per square inch than the human mouth! There are more bacteria in your mouth right now than there are on the bottom of the average shoe."

"Teeth represent only 10 percent of the surface of your mouth and bacteria live throughout the whole mouth. When you stop brushing, bacteria left behind resettle on your teeth and gums. Oil pulling reaches virtually 100 percent of the mouth, thereby affecting all bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa in the mouth."

Dr. Fife relays so many stories of miraculous health turnarounds that I was compelled to be more consistent in my oil pulling. I'm only going to share one testimonial here, from the first page of chapter 1.

"I began oil pulling seven months ago," says Tara of Melbourne, Australia. "I suffered with chronic fatigue for 14 years . . . I was confined to bed rest and had limited mobility." Tara also suffered from fibromyalgia. "I was in chronic pain and was suicidal. I could barely move my tongue inside my mouth and could not walk. . . I kept oil pulling, and changes occurred incrementally every day until after a couple of weeks my health was back to normal . . . I am now more fit and active, and don't need to rest as much. I had been living this way for years, and oil pulling gave me my life back. It also cleared up a skin problem I had when nothing else seemed to work. . . . Oil pulling has changed my life." Within just a few short weeks Tara had overcome two chronic illnesses that doctors say cannot be cured.

The How's

Put coconut oil in your mouth and swish it around. I've received differing instructions for the amount. A teaspoon to a tablespoon are the amounts I've seen.

I can't imagine starting with a tablespoon, because the volume increases with saliva. Dr. Fife says to start with 1-2 teaspoons, and to spit part of it out when it gets to be too much fluid in your mouth. Spitting some out then continuing with the pulling doesn't work for me; I start with an amount of oil that I can handle. Looking at my measuring spoons indicates that I start with a little over 1/8 teaspoon of coconut oil. It's not much, but it works. If you have a lot of bacteria in your system, perhaps using a larger amount makes a difference. Experiment.

The recommended time for oil pulling is about twenty minutes. You may not be able to do it for that long at first. I set a timer then go do other things while pulling.

When the time is up, spit the mix out. The oil mixed with saliva create a white-colored emulsion. Coconut oil is solid below 76F/24C, so the sink is not a wise disposal option. Some people put it in the garbage. I've flushed it down the toilet, but am still concerned about the potential for clogging the drains. My favored option is spitting it onto the soil in the garden, where the sun and air can tend to any bacteria.

Oil pulling once a day is recommended. If you've got significant dental problems, or significant health problems, consider doing it two or even three times a day. Since there's absolutely nothing about it that can hurt you, go for it. (If you're concerned about potential risks from consumption of coconut oil's saturated fat, I recommend you read my 2007 blog post about fats and oils.)

Potential Detoxification Symptoms & Healing Responses

Anytime you do something that is ultimately beneficial, there is always the possibility that you may experience increased symptoms associated with an existing condition, or new symptoms. This is an indication that your body is cleaning house, and that it is ramping up its healing efforts.

With oil pulling, trust that all that is happening is pathogenic organisms and toxins are being pulled out of your body. This reduces the load on your immune system, supporting your body in healing itself.

There's Nothing to Lose & Your Health to Gain

I want to repeat a sentence from one of the quotes above.

"Oil pulling reaches virtually 100 percent of the mouth, thereby affecting all bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa in the mouth." ~ Bruce Fife, C.N., N.D.

That's it. It doesn't get any simpler or easier. Try it for a while and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised.

My Oil Pulling Changes

Today, I noticed something different. I'm quite healthy, so changes are likely to be subtle. I added one completely new maintenance practice this month, along with becoming consistent with the oil pulling that I started intermittently in January/February. So it's impossible to tell if it's the oil pulling, the other new practice, or the combination of both along with everything else I was already doing. But, . . .

I have no menstrual symptoms today. In the past, my PMS symptoms have been limited to one to two days of minor cramp-like discomfort. Today would be the day for that, but it's not happening. Sooo, something's different. One change reported associated with oil pulling is balancing of hormones. So my experience is consistent with this.

I will update this posting with what I notice over time. I've been consistently oil pulling for about two weeks. Plus I rinse my mouth with brine solution after eating. Since reading the book last week, most days, I oil pull twice a day. After I wrote this posting last week, I realized that my gums are clearly healthier. With other dental care changes that I had made, they were already better. But there is noticeable additional improvement. I used to have a light coating on my tongue, whitish. It's gone.

Evidence That This Works. March 25. Rather than attempting to track the number of days that I've been oil pulling, I'm going to record it by date. I first published this blog post on March 12.

When I wrote last week, I was already aware that there was decreased plaque deposition on my teeth. Today, I have clear evidence. Due to a busier than usual schedule, I did not oil pull at all today. I did it twice yesterday and the day before, but not at all today. I brushed my teeth this morning, then had a full day of activity. It is now time to prepare for sleep.

Before I began oil pulling, flossing had shown how much plaque was accumulated on my teeth. If I brushed first then flossed, usually there would be observable plaque on the floss. More than I would expect to see after brushing.

Tonight, I purposely flossed before brushing. And saw less plaque removed from my teeth than I would previously have observed after brushing!! My teeth definitely feel smoother (pre-brushing), another indication that there is less plaque accumulation. This on a day when I brushed once in the morning and didn't oil pull at all.

What does this say? That consistent oil pulling decreased the amount of bacteria in my mouth. Even on a day when I did not oil pull at all, there is significantly less plaque buildup by day's end than there used to be.

Tell Me Your Stories

If you have oil pulling experiences to share, send me your stories. I may post significant testimonials here, in limited numbers.  sandra@MiracleInspirations.com



To finish, . . . Did you ever watch Horton Hears a Who? I saw it on television many long years ago. What I heard when preparing my final thought is this from that children's movie, "Boil that dust speck! Boil that dust speck!" So say the following with that rhythm and emphasis.


Pull That Bacteria! Pull That Bacteria!

Breathe

Sandra

Sandra Lynn Lee
Licensed Massage Practitioner, Washington
Human Design Specialist
Certified Practitioner - The Emotion Code/The Body Code
Certified Healing Codes Practitioner
Miracle Inspirations
www.MiracleInspirations.com
sandra@MiracleInspirations.com

Everything in this newsletter is the opinion of the author and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. When information is drawn from outside sources, both credit and access to the source are given, when available.
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