Oil Pulling

The latest health trend is something called oil pulling...which is the act of placing 1 tablespoon of oil (olive, coconut, sesame or sunflower) into your mouth and swishing and "pulling" vigorously for 20 minutes.  Now let me start by saying that I've always been open to homeopathic or ayurverdic methods.  This is due to the fact that my little sister was born with severe allergies to everyday foods. After my parents exhausted modern medicine practices without any results they turned to homeopathy as a last ditch effort.  My sister soon was cured...we'll never know if it was the bizarre beet soup we consumed every night along with popping charcoal tablets or just simply the act of growing older. 

So, when I hear about things like oil pulling I think, "well it's a product that I have in my kitchen so why not give it a go".  I preface with my open mind because my husband believes all things like this to be hocus pocus most likely put out by the oil companies.  He doesn't have one bone that believes in natural remedies.  As a matter of fact he looked at me like I just grew another head when I explained the procedure.

I have sensitive gums and when I go to the dentist he always breaks out with "gum scraping" as something I should consider.  Uh...no thanks.  So, if this was the miracle everyone is making it out to be then maybe I would never have to hear the dentist utter those words again?  So I "pulled" for one week so far.

Here is my unprofessional opinion.  I used olive oil because I had it in the cabinet and the taste didn't bother me at all.  In 2 days you'll notice the whitening of the teeth and for those of you who have priced Crest White Strips lately, this is a bargain.  Here is something that I noticed that other people haven't mentioned.  The act of utilizing your jaw muscle intensely for 20 minutes has left my turkey neck feeling firmed.  So, there are 2 in my eyes pretty awesome results in a quick amount of time.  I will say that your mouth does feel cleaner but it may be that you just swished oil around in your mouth and so your tongue glides easily over your teeth?  My teeth sensitivity seems to be letting up a little but I think it is to soon to tell due to the fact that the time of month sometimes dictates this.  My synopsis...for the whitening power and for the firming of the turkey neck...it's worth giving it a shot and I for one am going to continue the trend.