Perhaps you’ve heard about oil pulling from friends or just happened to stumble on it while online. As a Gresham general and family dentist, we want to make sure that everyone has solid information when it comes to their dental health. Beginning to practice (or not practice) something can have long term effects on your overall dental health. Do your research! We hope this will be a good place to start.

What is oil pulling?

Oil pulling is a traditional dental remedy with centuries of practice in southern Asia. The idea is that by vigorously forcing oil through your teeth – be it sesame, olive, sunflower, or coconut – for an extended period of time (5-20 minutes) that your overall dental health can be naturally (and often dramatically) improved. Adherents will claim that oil pulling reduces levels of harmful bacteria and has a whitening effect as well.

There are plenty of devoted oil pullers out there who will swear by the practice. But while it’s tempting to trust the stories of our friends and family or even influencers online, what confidence can you have that it’s really doing anything? How do you know it’s not just a placebo effect? If you’re going to have oil in your mouth for 20 minutes a day, you should have some assurance that it’s doing something good. That’s where it’s important to look at carefully gathered scientific evidence so you can take that into account in your decision making.

Is there evidence to support the benefits of oil pulling?

“Currently, there are no reliable scientific studies to show that oil pulling reduces cavities, whitens teeth or improves oral health and well-being,” the ADA said in its official position. “Because of this, the ADA does not recommend oil pulling as a dental hygiene practice.”

Now, does that mean oil pulling is harmful? No. The practice seems harmless enough. Does that mean oil pulling won’t benefit anyone? There may be some cases where it would. Does that mean there’s a decent chance you’ll see no real benefit? Yes.

Should you practice oil pulling?

At Main Street Dental we practice evidenced-based general and family dentistry, and in doing so we also respect the possibility that there are some practices that the evidence hasn’t gotten around to backing yet. Our own Dr. Seth’s wife, Brittany, provides essential-oil based oral rinses for tooth sensitivity on top of our evidence-based potassium nitrate supplemental tooth paste, varnishes done in office, vitamin E rinses, fluoride treatments, etc.

Just because the recent trend in the United States has not been peer-reviewed for years and years, does not undermine the validity of the practice of oil-pulling. Do I recommend oil pulling to patients? No. Can it be a help in certain patient’s oral health? Yes. Perhaps even just the increased mindfulness regarding oral health which may be produced by oil pulling leads to benefits, though oil pulling itself does not.

That said, oil-pulling should not replace brushing 2x a day, flossing (water, air, or traditional), and a fluoride-based oral rinse. At this point, if you are going to practice oil pulling, keep it supplemental.

We know there are many passionate practitioners of oil-pulling, but wherever you fall in terms of your opinions, we hope you’ll understand the need for a balanced approach.

If you’re in the Gresham area, we’d love to have you in!

When it comes to questions about your dental health, it’s best not to wait. Schedule an appointment with our general and family dentistry team by clicking Contact or call now: 503-665-8283.