Oil pulling is based on the thought process that there are toxins in your body that can be safely drawn out by your gums through the act of swishing oil in your mouth for 10 minutes or longer. There seems to be a lot of people on the Internet trying various oils and various techniques. “I can’t say much about which oil you should or shouldn’t use other than if you are going to try it, you might as well go with what the experts say, sesame or sunflower oil,” says Dr. Linda Golden, of the Golden Dental Wellness Center.
How to do it? Golden recommends begin first thing in the morning, before brushing your teeth, eating or drinking. Take 1 Tbsp of either sesame or sunflower oil in your mouth, tilt your chin up and slowly swish, suck, chomp and pull through the teeth. Do this for at least 10 minutes. Fifteen to 20 minutes is better. You want the oil to become a thin, white foam when you finally spit it out. If it’s still yellow, you haven’t done it long enough.
DO NOT SWALLOW THE OIL.
Again, the idea being that the toxins are drawn out of your body and into the oil. So don’t swallow the oil! “Spit it out in the toilet when your mouth is full and rinse your mouth out well,” advises Golden. “DO NOT GARGLE IN THE THROAT. THE OIL IS MEANT TO BE SWISHED IN THE MOUTH ONLY. I know Deepak Chopra said gargle, but according to everything I have read that’s not safe, so stick to swishing.”
DO IT SLOWLY.
“You can do this two more times during the day if you want to detox faster,” adds Golden. “Make sure you do it on an empty stomach.” It is recommended if you are going to do it more than once per day to make sure that you have not eaten in the last four hours.
“Let me say it one more time, DO NOT SWALLOW THE OIL,” says Golden. “It may now contains parasites and bacteria! At least according to the theory. But I wouldn’t swallow it anyway; I would suspect your stomach would not like it.”
Source: Dr. Linda Golden, DDS, of Golden Dental Wellness Center. Location: 444 Community Dr., Suite 204, Manhasset, 516-627-8400, GoldenSmile.com. See ad on page 13.
