What is oil pulling, and is it effective?

Swishing oil orally: Oil pulling or oil swishing is a traditional indian folk remedy that involves swishing oil in the mouth. Maybe it has some effects on the gums, teeth, or tongue... But nobody really knows.

Oil rinsing: Possibly effective if you were to use oil infused with ozone. Ozone (o3) has antibacterial effectiveness and is used in the bottled water industry as a final step in their processing, for purity. Ozonated olive oil, sunflower oil, or sesame oil may help to reduce plaque and halitosis when rinsed then expectorated. I dispense it to my patients as part of their cold sore treatment.

Old Indian procedure: Oil pulling is an old indian procedure of swishing with oil in an attempt to reduce the bacterial population around teeth. If you practice dentistry with evidence-based procedures which have been scientifically tested, you see no evidence that this is an effective therapy.

Proven vs unproven: By definition, "alternative" is different than modern western medicine. Generally any drug, herb, treatment, or procedure that stands up to rigorous scientific scrutiny is included in modern medicine. The problem is that many alternative practices, herbs etc do not stand up to scientific scrutiny and cannot be shown to work. still, some could help. great info at : http://nccam.Nih.Gov/.