oil pulling - I'm swallowing!

[DunderMifflin]

I've been oil pulling for a few weeks and my teeth and mouth definitely feel nicer - I haven't been able to find a good way of disposing of the oil so I've decided to swallow. Apart from the ick factor, its only what's already been in my mouth and coconut oil must be nutritious.

Also I can trick myself into thinking I've had a bounty in the morning!

If I develop aggressive thrush, carbuncles or balloon in weight, I'll report back.

palemistyveil I bought it to use as a facial moisturiser, that's what I use it for mainly.

Yes but MrsM I clean/floss my teeth well normally but due to the ravages of time my teeth were yellow with some areas of darker staining where some teeth meet. But since I've started slooshing around with oil, the staining is less pronounced and my teeth look a shade lighter. I still brush for 3 mins with my electric brush, use two different sizes of tee-pee's, use a tongue scraper, but do 20 mins of oil slooshing and they definitely look better than with brushing/tee-pees only.

I don't believe all the toxin eliminating business though. I'm not THAT gullible :)

Pahahahaa fliedpie good. Toxins usually equal bollocks. My point was that many many people think 20 min oil pulling is instead of brushing flossing etc. doing it on top of that, well, I can't see the harm but instead of is just a recipe for dentures.

I have never seen it suggested anywhere that oil pulling should replace brushing etc.

My question is how does anyone manage twenty minutes of slooshing? I can barely manage 30 seconds with mild mouthwash before needing to spit it out or risk gagging/swallowing by accident.

Yes, what fuzzlig said. Really, you have time to swill for 20 min as well as brush and floss for 5 min a day?? Something's got to give...

Its not that hard really.

So you think people are oil pulling instead of brushing Mrsmorton?

Yes. Because most of my patients who don't brush properly say it's because they don't have time. But they use mouthwash instead

Can I just ask, with the drain blocking tendencies of coconut oil, is it not a problem when you use it on your face and hair? re the pulling, I found it stopped the floss reeking when I was doing it which I assumed meant my breath was fresher. I sound lovely don't I, sniffing my floss.

what does that have to do with oil pulling though?

mouth wash isn't oil pulling is it.

Amber, I can see you are committed to non evidence based medicine. Good luck with that, I don't care enough about my job to debate it at this time of day. I'm commenting based on my experience. Enjoy your coconut oil or whatever other woo treatments you choose.

I'm not committed to non evidence based medicine at all actually.

I'm not even particularly committed to oil pulling! [is that deemed medicine?]

You seem highly strung though, so I'll leave you to it.

I've never seen it mentioned here that it replaces brushing or flossing. In every article I've read on the subject it always says to brush also.

Teeth aside, the thing I've found it had helped the most with is my tinnitus and sinusitis, really dramatic difference.

*"why do people choose unproven "eastern remedies" over evidence based, mainstream techniques".

Clinical trialling and peer-review is expensive and the processes intricately linked with Big Pharma. If there's no money in it, there will be no clinical trialling.

Incidentally, you rarely see an Indian with really bad teeth. I wonder why that is, given they have almost no access to dentists and eat sweets dripping with syrup?

And frankly, LOLing at the dentist dismissing the efficacy of something that may lose her custom. I'm sure your disdain is entirely impartial. Perhaps you could explain why so many dentists seem to have so many cartoonish tombstone veneers and gold fillings too?

It was my own dentist's advice to drop my hygiene appointments from 4 months to every 6 months. He agreed the coconut oil is probably dissolving fat soluble stains. But then he's not a fan of bleaching because over time it can degrade tooth enamel and hasten receding gums.

Whilst we're looking down our noses at "woo" (meaning 'shamanic' though normally written as "wu" when the Chinese translate into English), may I tell you about acupuncture?

I've had PCOS for years. Years. My family consists of half a dozen doctors including gynae and obs people. I've seen every specialist going, been on crappy Diannette for years.

I had three sessions of acupuncture and my periods became both clockwork and painless. I mentioned it to my GP and now she's actually referring people to my acupuncturist.

Just because you can't understand how something works doesn't mean it doesn't.

I also have acupuncture on the nhs. Apparently it's not seen as woo any more...

Dentists, what do you think of diets that claim to rebuild tooth enamel? is such a thing possible?

Always a bit racist to dismiss complementary therapy as "eastern remedies", I find.

Because we're such a picture of health and well-being in the wealthy, educated, clinically-trialled-until-the-cows-come-home West?

Were it not for the East, we wouldn't have mathematics and statistics and where would your clinical trials be then?

As for Pixie Mckenna being upheld as the ultimate authority on a procedure that's never been clinically trialled...

Valium You're right. Hypnotherapy is also now prescribed on the NHS, being more effective than drugs for many types of anxiety. It only took half a century for that to be recognised though.

Acupuncture, hypnotherary etc are called complementary therapy for a reason, but lumping different remedies all together, and then damning them all as "woo", just shows you know nothing about critical enquiry.

There's a place for both evidence-based medicine and empirical knowledge and all the best doctors (and dentists) know it.

FWIW, I heart oil pulling and OCM (which gave me better results than a dermatologist). Acupuncture worked for me too. Homeopathy does nothing for me and I've never tried Reiki, aromatherapy etc, but if it's working well for other people, it would never occur to me to dismiss it.

And frankly, LOLing at the dentist dismissing the efficacy of something that may lose her custom. I'm sure your disdain is entirely impartial. Perhaps you could explain why so many dentists seem to have so many cartoonish tombstone veneers and gold fillings too?

It won't lose my custom! I'm the one on here telling people to clean in between their teeth if they want them for life! Trust me there are still thousands of people who haven't got the diet and oral hygiene messages yet, I won't be going hungry because a few people have started oil pulling.

I only have one small white filling so can't answer your question about veneers and gold teeth, although for larger cavities gold is stronger than white and a perfectly good option.

There is absolutely no proof that professional tooth whitening damages enamel or makes gums receed. I have seen problems when people have had them whitened illegally by someone at a beauty salon though.

"I can see you are committed to non evidence based medicine. Good luck with that, I don't care enough about my job to debate it at this time of day. I'm commenting based on my experience." (My italics).

[Grin]. Oh dear, logic failure from the scientist.

"There is absolutely no proof that professional tooth whitening damages enamel or makes gums receed."

Interesting. My dentist would - as stated - disagree with you. He does do teeth whitening, but only if you insist. He told me I didn't need it, but I'm not so credulous as to imagine it was just the oil pulling responsible for that .

Thesaurus did you actually read my post?

They did trial it on the C4 programme. (New show, 'health freaks')
One of the doctors wanted it to work because he believed there may be some truth in it.

Half the people swished water half the people swished coconut oil.
It doesn't make a difference what you swish. The swishing is what works.

I don't have any fillings either but if I did then I would probably choose gold, it's an excellent material.

Thesaurus, if you had the faintest idea of how dentistry in this country was funded, you would know that seeing people with good teeth is more lucrative than seeing those with bad teeth and FWIW, in my ooh clinic which I run every Sunday, I see plenty of Indians, Pakistanis, Poles, and Brits and they all have equally unhealthy teeth and when I ask them why they haven't done anything about it, the most popular answer is "I haven't bothered to find a dentist".

Like Juneau said, the swishing is what works, it's the mechanical removal of biofilm that does the trick. Not the oil.