Benefits of oil pulling by Dr Gunita Singh

Oil pulling is an ayurvedic technique which involves swirling of oil in you mouth for 10- 15 mins early morning empty stomach followed by spitting out the oil It is an ancient practice which is suddenly gaining popularity due to its benefits Honestly it is not clear how it works but it claims that it pulls out all the harmful bacteria from your oral cavity and leads to infection free oral cavity

How do we do oil pulling  

• Take 1 tablespoon of oil (coconut almond sesame) 
• Swish it around in your mouth for 15-20 mins make sure you don’t swallow
• Spit it in a trash 
• Rinse your mouth with water 

Benefits 

• *It kills the harmful bacteria in the oral cavity At one given time there can be around 350 bacteria in the oral cavity 50%of which are harmful and cause tooth decays and other dental problems Studies have indicated that this technique kills the harmful bacteria and reduces the chances of tooth decay
• *Bad breath 50% of our population suffers from halitosis or bad breath reasons can be bad eating habits, poor oral hygiene, dirty coated tongue, In all these cases oil pulling has really helped it is a natural process to kill bad breath
• *improves gums health Gums are the foundation of our teeth If the gums loosen, they will also loose their grip on teeth so the teeth will loosen and eventually fall It’s very important to keep gums healthy Oil pulling not only kills harmful bacteria that effect gums it also moistens the gums and improves blood circulation
• *salivation Oil pulling improves salivation it increases the saliva flow thus improving the overall health of the mouth Saliva improves the stagnation of bacteria in the mouth reducing the risk to cavities with age sometimes the salivation reduces, and one develops a condition called xerostomia i.e. dry mouth Oil pulling can really be beneficial to avoid as well as improve this condition
• *overall health I have always mentioned that good oral health equals to good digestive systems equals to good immune system equals to good overall health So indirectly oil pulling keeps our full body heathy In a very natural way and almost free of cost The best oil for oil pulling is coconut oil As it has lauric acid benefits cheaper easily available And is very calming and soothing for the body Almond oil olive oil and sesame oil are good too .But my take on oil pulling is very different we at Dentem have often come across patients who are very excited about oil pulling on one of there visits and cant stop raving about the same but have given up on the same by the next visit which could be as less as 10 days If done properly its very tedious and sometimes messy On the other hand, simple oral hygiene methods like mouth washes, deep professional cleaning, gum massages are much simpler methods with equal benefits and patients don’t mind continuing for the sake of its simplicity I feel any health regime added to your routine should always be simple and less time consuming so that one can continue for rest of our lives