It’s been a bit over a week since I started oil pulling and I’ve gotten quite a few e-mails about it so I thought I’d post a quick update. The headaches finally stopped – yay! A lot of you suggested I might be clenching my jaw when I am swishing and I think you were right. I’ve tried to relax more and I think it helped. At any rate, the headaches are gone. My teeth don’t look any whiter (greasier/shinier maybe?) and the sensitivity hasn’t improved but I’m willing to give it a month.
Janelle left a really insightful comment on that post with some great additional info for people with bad tooth sensitivity like me:
As a Dental Hygienist, I have a couple of suggestions for those of you who suffer from sensitive teeth and/or cavity prone.There are some little known products out there I can introduce you to. One is Basic Bites- a “tootsie roll” type chew that you use after brushing and flossing twice a day to help with sesitivity. It contains arginine and is Ph balanced to reduce acids over quite a few hours after use. Xylitol gums and mints, when used several times a day (6-10 grams), can reduce cavities. Bacteria learn to prefer xylitol over sugar and, like a drug addict, will wait for a hit of xylitol instead of consuming available sugars. The net effect being they die without nutrition. So, it can alter the flora of your mouth and therefore you could be less cavity prone. This takes time tho. Anyone ever heard of a $100 tube of toothpaste? Theodent 300 contains an extract from cocoa that is shown to be significantly more powerful than fluoride for remineralizing and desensitizing and with significantly less dosage and obviously is not toxic like fluoride. Theodent also has a standard toothpaste for just $10 a tube. They also have a kids version. EvoraPlus oral probiotics can, over time, alter the flora of your mouth to harbor healthy bacteria. One of the strains of bacteria actually produces hydrogen peroxide as a by-product and therefore you could notice some whitening effect. Those who are oil pulling might want to try using an ozonated oil. I don’t have any real science to show you, but since ozonated oils are extremely potent at killing viruses, bacteria and fungus, I imagine it would take oil pulling to a new level. Ozone oil seems to melt the plaque right off the teeth, according to a book I’m reading called Mouth Matters.
Also, there’s still time to enter my $100 Panera giveaway and don’t forget to check out Sheba as well!
I would totally buy a hundred dollar tube of tooth paste.
When I got this followup comment submitted by Jenelle, I saved it in my in-box for future reference.
Your idea of a month seems a reasonable duration for a mouth fitness experiment, since it may otherwise feel slighted that your quads get more thought and consideration.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow!
(You’ll have to imagine the lilting Irish brogue)
That is so interesting about the xylitol gum. I’m a serious gum addict and I always chew Trident (I inherited both my love of gum, and my brand loyalty from my mom) which has xylitol. I haven’t had a cavity since I was in middle school! I went 8 years without a real dental cleaning when I was in grad school and didn’t have insurance and when I went in finally, they said they would never have guessed it had been that long. And still no cavities!
YEAH XYLITOL!!
Glad the headaches are gone, too. I’m interested to hear the final results of the Great Oil-pulling Experiment. (hehe)
Totally into checking out the chocolate toothpaste (are you kidding me? – my dream come true!).
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