Using coconut oil for your teeth can help with oral hygiene, improve dental health, and even whiten your teeth! It's a simple method that may have major benefits. If you decide to use coconut oil to whiten your teeth or to improve your oral health, make sure you use it alongside a normal hygiene routine.
Using coconut oil as part of a daily oral care regimen isn't just recommend for health reasons; it can also improve the aesthetics of teeth as well. Patients have reported that they've experienced significantly whiter teeth almost instantly after use.
Coconut Oil
It can also be used along with baking soda as a substitute for toothpaste. Other oils like sesame and sunflower can also be used for oil pulling to keep your teeth clean.
Dentist's verdict: Oil pulling with coconut oil can help with more mild forms of gingivitis when used in conjunction with flossing. This is (again) due to the lauric acid in coconut oil. It should not be seen as a way of treating more serious gum disease or as a replacement of flossing.
Measure one tablespoon of coconut oil. You can also use olive oil or sesame oil. 2. Swish it in your mouth for about 15-20 minutes.
Oil pulling is done every morning on an empty stomach. Place a tablespoon of edible oil (typically sesame or coconut) in your mouth and swish it vigorously through your teeth for about 3 to 20 minutes while keeping your mouth closed. After you're done, spit out the oil and rinse your mouth with warm water.
As it turns out, coconut oil kills the bacteria that cause gum disease and cavities. It even helps prevent periodontal disease and tooth decay. Research also shows coconut oil to also help your body absorb calcium and magnesium which aids in the development of strong teeth.
You do not need to brush your teeth before oil pulling as the practice will remove food and bacteria from the mouth. However, it is important to brush afterwards to ensure that all of the toxins that are drawn out of the mouth are removed. If it feels weird, keep going.
A lot of tooth pastes already have this common ingredient in them! Mix a teaspoon of baking soda with a teaspoon of coconut oil and you have yourself a cheap option for whitening your teeth. Plus, coconut oil has anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties and can help kill bacteria that cause bad breath.
Brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste twice a day for about 2 minutes to help keep your teeth and mouth healthy. Plaque is a film of bacteria that coats your teeth if you don't brush them properly. It contributes to gum disease and tooth decay. Tooth brushing stops plaque building up.
Oil Pulling – One way to use essential oils to address receding gums is to try oil pulling. This Ayurvedic technique combines a carrier oil, like coconut oil or cold-pressed sesame oil, with a few drops of essential oils. After mixing, swish well for 10-15 minutes, then spit.
coconut oil showed a significant decrease in plaque and gingival scores in comparison to olive oil in patients with mild to moderate gingivitis. That is, those who pulled with coconut oil had less plaque buildup and less inflammation in their gums than those in the olive oil group.
The simple answer is, no. If your gums are damaged by, for example periodontitis, the most severe form of gum disease, it's not possible for receding gums to grow back. However, even though receding gums can't be reversed there are treatments that can help to stop the problem from getting worse.
Although there hasn't been any official studies or reports on concrete dangers reported from oil pulling, there are some negative side effects that can happen, especially if an improper technique is used: Dry mouth. Excessive thirst. Muscular stiffness.
Dentist Concerns About Oil Pulling
Because sufficient evidence of the effectiveness of oil pulling is lacking, dental professionals recommend exercising caution when it comes to this practice. Although it isn't particularly harmful, some people may experience some side effects.
What are the risks of Oil Pulling? The negative side effects of oil pulling including dry mouth, excessive thirst, muscular stiffness, exhaustion and loss of sensation or taste in the mouth.
Oil-Pulling Tips
Start with just 5 minutes a day. Twenty minutes of swishing is a long time, and while the longer you pull, the more bacteria you'll remove, 5 or 10 minutes will still offer some benefit. Also, if your jaw starts aching a few minutes in, slow down. "Don't work too hard," Emery says.
You can whiten your teeth with coconut oil every day if you want, but most people choose to do it only a few times a week. If you don't want to swish the oil around in your mouth, you can always apply the oil to your toothbrush and simply brush your teeth.
If you experience pain while oil-pulling, then you're probably swishing too hard or the amount of oil is too much. Oil-pulling should be comfortable so try to be calm and relaxed while doing it. Also, you don't have to swish for the whole 20 minutes.
The longer you push and pull the oil through your mouth, the more microbes are pulled free. The oil needs to be swished around long enough for it to turn a milky white, which indicates that the bacteria has been “pulled” off.
Remember, coconut oil on its own doesn't whiten teeth. It can, however, make them appear temporarily brighter. With that in mind, if you'd still like to add coconut oil to your oral care routine, Patterson says that it's fine to do so as long as you're not allergic to the ingredient.