OIL PULLING: HEALTHIER TEETH & GUMS

Finally, I'm back with another blog post. Sorry for the lack of posts lately, finding a balance between uni work and blogging is a lot harder than I thought. However, I will be trying to update a lot more often (I promise).

Anyway, back to the main focus of this post: oil pulling, and in particular, coconut oil pulling. I'm pretty sure most of you are already aware that coconut oil has many health benefits, especially aimed at hair and skin care, but did you know coconut oil has an advantage for oral health too?!

[SOURCE FOR THE IMAGE ABOVE]

This remedy has been used for many years, especially popular amongst the Eastern world. Oil pulling, also known as kavala (an ancient Ayurvedic dental technique) is used to make improvements to overall oral health. You may use other oils such as sesame or sunflower oil, but coconut oil contains a fatty acid (The Lauric Acid) which is proven to kill bacteria, fungi and viruses as it is antimicrobial.

I stumbled across an Instagram page [COCOWHITE] and was skeptical as to whether I should give this a try or not. Cocowhite is a brand that provides daily sachets with added flavour including: 'Minty Fresh', 'Vanilla Swirl' and 'Light Lemon' to make oil pulling more bearable. After researching and researching into oil pulling, I made the decision to purchase the assorted flavored package (14 sachets) for the price of £19.99 GBP. I felt that the price was reasonable, considering the advantages of coconut oil pulling was so appealing! Delivery was quick as it arrived within 2 days so I was happy about that.

Benefits of oil pulling:

• Brighter, whiter teeth
• Healthier gums
• Prevention of bad breath
• Increase in energy
• Decreased headaches
• Clearer sinuses
• Alleviated allergies
• Clearer skin

The technique for oil pulling is simple, use it as a mouthwash for 15-20 minutes in the morning, before brushing your teeth. In order to do this, you'll need to swish the oil around your mouth and make sure to spit it out as it should (hopefully) be full of toxins and bacteria. As this is very time consuming, especially when I have limited amount of time to get ready for my lectures, in order to save time, I usually multi-task and do this when I'm taking a shower in the morning or whilst doing my make up.

After reading endless reviews, I was expecting the texture to make me feel sick because it is very thick and slightly hard, but my initial impression was a lot better than I expected. I squeezed the oil into my mouth and although the consistency is very thick (as you can slightly tell by the pictures below), when I began to "push and pull" the oil between my teeth, it started melting inside my mouth, turning into liquid as it mixes with my saliva (as disgusting as that sounds) as well as (I'm guessing) pulling the bacteria and toxins out from in between my teeth.

I also made sure that after spitting it out, I rinsed my mouth a few times and when brushing my teeth, I brushed for longer than 2 minutes to make sure I remove all the bacteria that could be remaining. I've been using cocowhite for about a week now and I'm completely used to it. I've noticed that my teeth feels cleaner and slightly brighter, but I think it will take a bit more time for it to really whiten. However, as this is a detox, for the first few days of using this, I did have a mild headache but this does not happen to everyone. Other symptoms may include mild congestion and mucous drainage.

I cannot stress how important dental hygiene is. When I have healthy teeth and gums, I feel so much more confident smiling! Coconut oil pulling is definitely a way to whiten your teeth using natural ingredients, therefore you know for a fact that you're not harming your teeth in any way whatsoever. I recommend this to those looking to improve their oral health. I mean, you can look up the benefits of coconut oil, it really will make your mouth feel a lot more clean. I don't know about all the other claims such as increase in energy but I know it definitely gets rid of all the bacteria in your mouth that you wouldn't want.

I will be updating again if I see any other changes or improvements so stay tuned. Leave any comments or questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them! Thanks for reading this blog post, until next time.