Oil Pulling: A How-To and the Benefits for Improving Oral Health According to Ayurvedic Medicine

Oil pulling is a daily tradition in Ayurvedic Medicine with over 5,000 years of history and has numerous benefits from oral health!

How to Practice Oil Pulling:

Oil Pulling is is done by placing a comfortable amount of oil in the mouth and leaving it for 5 - 10 minutes then spitting out the oil and rinsing the mouth with warm water. Traditionally sesame oil is indicated for oil pulling, but with modern trends sometimes coconut oil is used as well.

Why is Oil Pulling so Important?

The mouth is the starting point of your gastrointestinal tract and your mouth has a microbiome, just like your gut does. Just like what can happen in the gut, the microbiome can have an overgrowth of bad bacteria, causing cavities, tooth decay, and bad breath. In Ayurvedic medicine we cleanse the month by oil pulling.

How does Oil Pulling Work?

Oil pulling is able to remove the bacteria from the mouth because bacteria present in the oral cavity are enclosed by a lipid membrane that sticks to the lipid structure of the oil. When you fill the mouth with oil and swish it around the bacteria detach from the soft tissue in the mouth and are pulled into the oil and then are eliminated when you spit out the oil. The process is similar to how detergent cleans clothes.

What are the Benefits of Oil Pulling?

There are many benefits from oil pulling for your oral health. Removal of bacteria prevents tooth decay, prevents cavities, and treats bad breath. Oil pulling is used to treat mouth ulcers and bleeding gums. Sesame oil is also nourishing to tissue and daily use will strengthen jaws, teeth and gum and will regenerate gum tissue, setting us up for great oral health for into old age.

Removal of this bacteria also is a preventative measure to reduce risk of chronic bacterial infections like typhoid and cholera and life-threatening inflammation of the cardiac system as many bacterial infections are transmitted from the mouth and are carried into our bodies by the food we eat.

Daily oil pulling with sesame oil will also prevent sinus infections and relieve excess mucus from the sinus cavity.

To learn more about Ayurveda, visit vedatherapeutics.com/blog for more!