What is oil pulling and does it actually work?

Oil pulling is one of the latest beauty trends sweeping social media. Prudence Wade tried it out to see if it’s really worth the effort

If you’ve picked up a lifestyle magazine or stumbled across a beauty blog recently, no doubt you’ve come across oil pulling.

But do you actually know what the process involves? To find out (and for the joy of trying out a fad), I decided to give oil pulling a go for a week.  I also took advice from two experts, Ayurvedic physician Dr Anil Alexander and periodontist Dr Sanda Moldovan.

Here’s everything I learned.

What is oil pulling?

It might be reaching the heights of fashion now, but oil pulling has been around a long time. Stemming from Ayurvedic medicine, which originated in India over 3,000 years ago, it aims to keep your teeth healthy and even potentially whiten them.

Oil pulling is essentially swishing oil around your mouth for 20 minutes. Coconut oil is recommended, and Dr Alexander says it is best to do it in the morning. Once you’ve finished swilling the oil around your mouth, it should turn from clear to milky – showing that the bacteria has been “pulled” out of your mouth.

Why would you do it?

If you read the headlines about oil pulling, you might think that it’s a surefire way to whiten your teeth. But hold up before you start reaching for the coconut oil, because this is very much up for debate.

Dr Alexander says: “It helps with brightening and whitening teeth.” But Dr Moldovan doesn’t quite agree. She says: “There are no studies to show that oil pulling whitens teeth – baking soda works much better.”

What the doctors do seem to agree upon is the fact that oil pulling gets rid of some of the bacteria in your mouth.

“When someone swishes oil back and forth between the teeth, it creates a saponification effect, which has been shown to decrease the level of bacteria present around the teeth,” Dr Moldovan says. “It essentially washes away the superficial plaque around the teeth.”

Dr Alexander cites a whole host of other benefits, including healthier gums, removing mucus, and the prevention of gum disease, tooth decay and bad breath.

So you’re fully in the know, there are few medical studies to back up these claims. Oil pulling has gained popularity thanks to the centuries of use rather than concrete scientific proof.  Cosmetic dentist Dr Jessica Emery says that while it won’t reverse tooth decay, it does free your mouth of some bacteria and anecdotally it’s said to help whiten teeth and relieve tooth sensitivity.

So how did I find it?

First off, it’s worth noting that coconut oil is not hugely pleasant to swill around your mouth – it’s really quite thick and almost creamy feeling. Most people are used to the ease of gargling mouthwash, but coconut oil is a whole different kettle of fish.

Carving out a whole 20 minutes of my day for oil pulling was tricky.  Even though it’s recommended to do it in the morning, I’m more of a ‘get up five minutes before I have to leave’ than a ‘wake up and sit with coconut oil in my mouth for 20 minutes’ kind of person, so I opted to do it before bed.

The first few days of my experiment were trying. On day one, I was obviously over-enthusiastic in my swishing, since I ended up with an aching jaw ten minutes in.

Even after I’d learned my lesson and minimised my jaw-ache, I still encountered a fair few troubles. Not to labour the point, but 20 minutes is a long old time. It was altogether too easy to lose focus and accidentally swallow a bit of the oil or spit some out.

Sometimes, I would entirely forget that I was meant to be swilling the oil around my mouth and would just chill – until I  realised I was sitting there with a mouthful of bacteria-filled oil. Which was fairly gross.

But as the week went on, I slowly got used to the process and began to find it soothing. After all, it gave me the perfect excuse to relax and hate-watch an episode of Girls in peace, without feeling I should be doing a thousand other things.

The best part? The feeling I got after oil pulling and then brushing my teeth. My mouth has never felt cleaner or fresher, and that’s a pretty dreamy feeling to go to bed with.

Here’s some advice for anyone who wants to try it themselves

Aside from not overdoing the jaw movements, there are a few other things to watch out for if you’re giving oil pulling a go for the first time. They might seem somewhat obvious, but these are things that caught me out.

Firstly, make sure you melt the oil before you swill it. It’s a no-brainer, but coconut oil becomes solid in cooler temperatures and you can’t swish solid oil around your mouth.

But once you’ve heated the oil, please, please don’t put it straight into your mouth. Take it from someone who knows first-hand – hot oil in your mouth is not pleasant.

And when you spit it out, make sure you use the bin as opposed to your sink – the oil will clog up your pipes.

Dr Moldovan also warns against accidentally swallowing the oil, saying: “Some studies have shown that oil droplets can end up in the lungs, and these can cause infections, as they contain bacteria.”

She adds that if you suffer from gum disease it is best for you to see a periodontist instead of trying oil pulling.

So what’s the verdict?

Whether or not oil pulling actually whitens your teeth is debatable, so it’s a pretty big time commitment for something that only might happen. As I only tried it for a week, I couldn’t really tell the difference. Even Dr Alexander says: “For regaining the tooth colour you have to do it continuously for a long period.”

Before trying it out yourself,  Dr Moldovan suggests considering your options: “I think it’s becoming popular because it’s nostalgic and all natural,” she says, but there are other all natural options you can also try.”

She suggests using an oral irrigator – a water jet, which she says is more effective in clearing away superficial plaque.

After my week of oil pulling every day, I thought that I might do it every so often to get that clean and fresh feeling. However, I confess that in the weeks after, I haven’t returned to it once.

It’s just too much of a hassle for too small a result. For now, I’m going to stick to my tried and tested brush and floss routine.

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