Is Oil Pulling a Safe Practice?

Posted on July 22, 2014 in General oral health

Oil pulling has been in the news and all over social media as of late. Oil pulling is the practicing of swishing oil in your mouth, which supposedly cleans your teeth and gums. But does it work?

Well, there is a lack of evidence to support that oil pulling has any oral health benefits.  Luckily, there are time-tested behaviors that we know work to help improve oral health:

• Brush your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste
• Floss between teeth once a day

Though oil pulling only recently became popular in America, it is an ancient folk remedy from India and southern Asian cultures.

To clean the mouth, you're supposed to hold a vegetable-based oil (like olive or sesame) in your mouth anywhere from 1 to 20 minutes. But, as is true with many folk remedies, oil pulling just doesn’t have scientific or peer-reviewed literature to back up its claims.  Many of the studies that do exist on oil pulling have clear problems, such as a small sample size.  We do know, however, that there are potential adverse effects of this practice, including upset stomach, diarrhea, aspiration of the oil and even some cases of lipoid pneumonia^[1].

So, while this practice might seem like an interesting remedy to try, we recommend sticking to the things that are proven to work– brushing with fluoride toothpaste, flossing and visiting your dentist.