However my blog is about saving you money and let's be honest some over seas trips are cheaper than an appointment with your dentist.
This brings me to Oil Pulling.
Before you run and hide hear me out.
I've been seeing articles on oil pulling here and there for about a year now. If you haven't let me explain:
Oil pulling is the act of swirling a spoonful of oil around your mouth for approximately 15 minutes. As the oil swirls around your teeth and gums it's pulls out toxins, bacteria, that build up to cause plaque and gum diseases after your time is up you spit out the oil and the bad bacteria with it. People who have done it boast of healed cavities, whiter teeth, and all over better oral health.
When I first read about it I thought it sounded painfully similar to the times when my parents used to threaten me with a spoonful of castor oil for misbehaving and I wasn't entirely sure it was something I could do.
Fast forward to June this year and on returning from our overseas trip I found myself with a constant tooth ache. It wasn't just one tooth. My entire mouth just ached 24/7. I was positive that had I managed to find the cash to send myself to a dentist I was going to be faced with a few thousand dollars worth of work and a prescription for antibiotics to fight gum disease.
So instead of $220 for a dental consultation I spent $17 on a jar of organic coconut oil.
You can choose any oil you like for this activity. Sunflower, grape seed etc... I chose coconut for it's taste and it's known attributes. Be careful which oil you choose as I've read that some of the yellow oils can stain your teeth.
Coconut oil has become my second love - next to vinegar - simply because it's one product that has a million uses.
I'm not going to get in to the science - I'll post a link to Wikipedia at the bottom of this post for those who are interested - but in a nutshell coconut oil has anti bacterial properties which is why it's so great to use in oil pulling. When ingested our bodies react to the oil which gets the whole process started. The oil turns on it's antibacterial agents and they go to work pulling all the crap from your mouth that toothpaste doesn't even know is there.
Three days of doing this was all it took to get rid of my toothache. I'm hypothesising here but what I think happened is that those antibacterial properties went to work on my gums and got rid of the bacteria that was causing what I believe was the beginning of gum disease. If I had gone to a dentist he would have prescribed antibiotics to do the job.
I use half a tablespoon of solid coconut oil, which when melted in my mouth turns into probably more than a tablespoon, and swirl for ten minutes. That's right I broke the rules.
Everywhere I have read up on oil pulling says to swirl for 20 minutes. 15 if you can't manage the 20.
I could barely manage ten minutes when I first started, but after the first two days it got a lot easier.
I did it while showering so the time passed quicker. There is mixed feelings on what to do with the oil once you're done. As coconut oil solidifies when cold some say you should not spit it down the drain in case it causes blockages. I believe that once it's been swirling in your mouth for ten minutes gathering crap it's make up changes and what you spit out is no longer capable of solidifying. So at the end of the day it's up to you. If you're worried spit it in a cup and pour it out in the garden.
Two months later and now I oil pull once every three days, sometimes longer if I forget. I haven't had a tooth ache since I started.
I still have sensitive teeth, this isn't a complete miracle worker, but it has worked on keeping my gums healthy.
My jar of coconut oil cost me $17.95, I've had it for two months and have about four days left before I'll need to replace it.
The point of this post is to basically tell you that yes you should see a dentist if you're worried about your teeth, Yes you should brush daily, and Yes you should certainly give oil pulling a try if you want to avoid huge dental bills for just a little longer.
Give it a try and let me know what you think.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil
Skye
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment