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This is an old thread, but I just wanna share my praise of oil pulling.
AND a couple criticisms.
First of all, I use coconut oil. Which is technically a vegetable oil, as it comes from a plant, but unlike sesame oil or sunflower oil, is a saturated fat. I haven't tried any unsaturated fats for oil pulling, nor do I really want to; coconut oil is anti-inflammatory and absolutely heavenly smelling. The process of swishing it around my mouth is almost meditative.
I can't speak for any other health benefits, but coconut oil is wonderful for oral health. And poor oral health can indeed cause other systemic issues. Perhaps, by extension, oil pulling can alleviate disease elsewhere in the body. I don't know, I just do it for my teeth and gums, Those who say brushing your teeth is "better" than oil pulling are sadly mistaken. Oil pulling does not replace brushing, and brushing does not replace oil pulling; think of the oil as being more of a mouthwash. But we also require abrasive action from a toothbrush to clean our teeth. This is why other animals chew on sticks and bones, as way of scrubbing their teeth so they can better eat us. :)
My only complaint about oil pulling?
The name.
Oil "pulling" means pulling the oil throughout your mouth by the action of swishing it around. Yet most people don't know this, and when I mention oil pulling for dental health, they think I mean pulling out their teeth. This in incorrect. Why not call it "oil rinsing" or something else less ambiguous? But this is just a semantics issue, minor nitpick that confuses people away from an otherwise good practice.
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