A skeptics take on oil pulling

We all like to have fresh breath, to smooch someone with a confident clean mouth.

And we go through lots of hoops to get those sparkly fresh teeth. Brushing, flossing, whitening, cosmetic dentistry and now the internet’s latest craze: “oil-pulling.”

For those of you who know me, you’ll probably agree that I’m a natural skeptic about things and “oil pulling” was recently added to that list. I like to exercise critical thinking skills when it comes to my health, research what the peer-reviewed science says, etc.

I try not to be a black and white type thinker who automatically labels something processed or synthetic as “bad” and something natural or ancient as “healthy.” (That could be an entire blog post in an of itself.)

And yet I know that despite being skeptical about a lot of things at first, I’ve grown to love many of them like: Bikram yoga, homeopathy and even my career! When I first heard about toxic chemicals in everyday consumer products the first thing I thought was, There’s no way… this woman has to be off her rocker!

But as it turns out, the hatha yoga postures in Bikram yoga have been around for over 5,000 years and the health benefits are backed up by decades worth of science. Homeopathy cured my chronic acne and major public health organizations and research institutions confirm that toxic chemicals are in fact in everyday consumer goods.

Enter “oil-pulling”

It is the ancient Ayurvedic practice of swishing coconut or sesame oil in your mouth to help with overall dental hygiene, remove plaque, whiten teeth and reduce or eliminate gingivitis.

All you have to do is read several blogs about oil-pulling to find lavish claims about it curing just about every health aliment known to humans, and each blog has the exact same formula for how to properly oil-pull.

The thing that I also noticed right away, aside from the lavish claims about improving health, is that there is little to no peer-reviewed science backing up any of the health claims. So naturally, I was skeptical.

I have had some inflammation of my gums after flossing so thought it was the perfect time for me to give this ancient technique a try.

Like thousands of others (this trend is really catching on in the blogosphere), I would scoop out organic coconut oil, let it melt in my mouth and would swish it around for 15-20 minutes. I did this 3-4 times a week for over three weeks.

I wanted enough “data” to see if I was seeing any improved outcomes in my flossing.

Swish, swish, swish.

I swished oil in my mouth like every other sucker around town, my jaw got tired, and I kept swishing…

After nearly a month, I noticed absolutely no difference in the health of my gums, my teeth aren’t any whiter, and there is no evidence (at all) to prove that I experienced some of the health claims like “pulling toxic chemicals from your body.”

Little (to no) scientific literature backing up health claims of oil-pulling

Aside from my personal anecdotal evidence, I wanted to see if there was a body of scientific research that I was somehow missing. The Atlantic wrote a piece highlighting how the trend has no science to back up the health claims associated with oil-pulling.

I did some research and as it turns out there are some (albeit small) studies showing benefits of reducing gingivitis and minor health benefits specifically linked to oral and dental health, and many of the studies weren’t peer-reviewed.

Most important however, there was no academic research backing up the lavish health claims not linked to dental health including: curing diabetes, eliminating acne, eliminating insomnia, constipation, PMS, etc.

Myth: Oil pulling removes “toxins” from your body

Since I spend a lot of my time thinking about the subject of toxic chemicals, I feel comfortable debunking this oil-pulling myth. First (this is just a pet peeve), the word “toxin” refers to a naturally occurring poison like snake venom and is different than the term “toxic chemicals” which is what most people are referring to when they think of removing harmful synthetic chemicals from our bodies.

Second, the only way we could back up a claim that oil-pulling removes toxic chemicals from our bodies would be to biomonitor participants (the process of testing blood, urine and fats for toxic chemicals) including the oil that is spit out after swishing.

Based on my research, no such studies have been conducted.

On the other hand, there has been credible evidence to back up other detoxification routes including: sweating, urine/feces (gross, but true), reducing our exposure to certain chemicals, and even breast feeding (horrible I know, but breast feeding is still best!).

Coconut oil is still amazing

Just because the practice of swishing oil in my mouth won’t be high on my list of holistic practices, it doesn’t diminish the wonderful uses and benefits of coconut oil.

Coconut oil is a great oil to use when cooking foods on high heat (buy refined coconut oil if you want to avoid a strong coconut flavor), I use it regularly as moisturizer, rub it on my scalp to help with dandruff and in addition to many healthy fats, lip balm, and it has some anti-bacterial properties. For more uses of coconut oil check out this great piece by Joanna Runciman of Actual Organics.

Good bye oil-pulling, it’s been fun

Sometimes, even ancient techniques are best left in the past.

The result of that critical thinking has led me down a road that blends the best of new and old practices, eastern and western medicine.

I’ll file this oil-pulling experience away in the “glad I tried it” category but rest assured I’ll be sticking to flossing and brushing for my dental health routine.

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Speaking of things that sound crazy, but I’d like to try, have you ever heard of “wet sock treatment”? My friend Kirsten at Cheerfully Imperfect swears by it! I’ll let you know how it goes next time I have a cold. 

(Photo credits: Steve Snodgrass via cc, *Seth via cc (cropped))