Oil Pulling

Oil pulling was first mentioned in Charaka Samhita and Sushrutha's Arthashastra, (meaning science related to worldly wealth) a book on government dated from sometime between the 4th century BC and 2nd century AD. It is also a widely recommended Ayurvedic procedure that has become more popular recently because of the website www.oilpulling.com by Dr. F. Karach, M.D from the Ukraine where he explains his findings.  Some of the information is obviously lost in translation; however, after searching the web, there is a wealth of information on this topic including testimonials, skepticisms and a variety of instructions. 

How do you do it?

Oil Pulling involves taking 1 tbsp of certain vegetable oils and swishing it or “pulling” it between your teeth for at least 15-20 minutes.  Normally you would think it would be hard to keep oil in your mouth that long – that you might experience a gag reflex or that it would just taste and feel too bad to handle.  But using the proper oils, this isn’t the case for most people. After doing some significant research online and with my colleagues, it is best to use either Sunflower or Sesame oil for optimal results. I found the sunflower oil the easiest since it just tasted like sunflower seeds which most people like anyway.

Once you have pulled/swished the oil properly for the time recommended, spit the oil out in the sink, toilet or garbage.  It will now be white and will contain harmful organisms and toxins from your mouth that you no longer want there.  Never swallow the oils after you have been swishing it in your mouth as you will then be digesting all those toxins.  It is also important to always do this on an empty stomach – this is when your mouth is the most toxic.  Many people find doing it first thing in the morning before they brush their teeth fits into their schedule the easiest.

Why would you want to?

There are several reasons that people use this for. The first is optimal dental health.  There is a study online by Dr. HV Amith from January, 2007 that discusses this specifically and how it significantly helps plaque and gingivitis. There are also many testimonials from people that talk about how it whitens their teeth significantly.  Depending on how toxic their teeth and mouth are initially, it can often make them darker at first, and then as the toxins are removed, the enamel clears up.

The second reason is the gentle but effective removal of heavy metals.  One of my colleagues had a male flight attendant who is exposed to jet fuel, re-circulated air, etc.  He decided to do the oil pulling because he wanted to get his amalgam fillings removed, and the bio dentist said he was too toxic to have it done, so the dentist sent him to the allergy elimination specialist, who is in the same practice, and she was the one who had him do oil pulling with sesame oil every day for one month, which he did.  My colleague tracked his live/dried blood sample once a week while he was doing this, and boy, did it clean him up! His spring allergies were minimal this year compared to what they usually are.

My colleague also had a young lady who has the craziest health situation you ever saw in your life, like a yoyo, up and down, up and down with her illnesses. She wanted to try the oil pulling, so my colleague suggested she do it twice a week instead of daily. She felt so good after she did it the first time, that she went ahead and did it the next day, and her liver felt sore, so I had her do a castor oil pack on her liver and she felt much better, but it scared her, so she's not doing it
again. Which brings up the next point, often when people do any kind of detoxing, such as oil pulling, they may experience cleansing responses such as pain, rashes, or loose stools?  In addition it can also bring up buried emotions as it appears to have done for this woman which is good to be aware of.  If you know something is going to happen, then when it does, you aren’t as scared and can understand the process more and move forward and through to the other side. All of these processes can be common and temporary as the body is in the process of flushing toxins out. You could always cut down and allow your body to remove things more gently rather than rushing the process.

When I first did the oil pulling I was very surprised at how clean my teeth felt. It was like I had just gone to the dentist – that clean smooth feeling you feel after you get your teeth cleaned.  I kept running my tongue on my teeth.  The first day after I did the oil pulling, I felt awesome, as the lady above did and many of my customers have experienced this also.  It is almost as if it helps clear the mind in addition to the teeth.

Safe enough for children

One of my colleagues uses this technique with many of her young customers. She has them do TOPICAL oil pulling on the soles of their feet. So many of the kids have way too much metal
concentrated in their bodies and brains from poor diets, pesticides in the air, and toxins in cleaners, detergents, shampoos, etc. and sunflower oil will draw metals down through the pores of the soles of the feet. She has them do it at bedtime and then put lightweight socks on. It's incredible how their dried blood cell samples change as result of doing this.

Go Slowly

Sunflower oil is good for eliminating mercury topically, and you can apply it to the soles of the feet as much as you want, but not other parts of the body, especially the head, because if the
metals are too embedded in the brain the person will get one whopper of a headache when they apply the oil to the head to draw the mercury out.

The way my colleague found this out was she tried it on herself to see what would happen. And another client of mine tried it because she wanted to shortcut the process of working the mercury out slowly like you're supposed to with something like Chlorella and an essential fatty acid, like DHA or Omega 3. It only takes one of those kinds of headaches to convince you never to do that again. So, topical application to the feet draws the metals down and through the soles of the feet.

If you are constantly being exposed to toxins from amalgam fillings, flying excessively, pesticides, or prescription drugs, you may find that oil pulling can help you significantly.  These toxic vapors are swallowed with every bite of food and with each breath, therefore slowly eroding the gut and whatever tissue spaces they decide to go to from there, which for a lot of people is either endocrine or connective tissues. This can affect our mood, hormones, joints and general health in a variety of ways. Some amount of relief can be experienced by these people who have "stored metals" in the body even though they continue to put them there over and over again.

It's like the tiger chasing his tail around the tree, but at least you can make a dent. Just like when you get your fillings replaced, you cut off the head of the dragon, but the accumulated damage to the rest of the body is still there.

As always – you now have the information – you decide.