Efficacy of Oil Pulling Therapy on Supragingival Plaque Growth

Oil pulling is a method based on Ayurvedic medicine which aims to obtain local and systemic benefits by swirling oils in the oral cavity for a period of 15 minutes, before spitting it out.12 Although the exact mechanism of action is not clear, there are some proposed theories. One proposed theory is the saponification or "soap making" process which occurs as a result of alkali hydrolysis of fat.9 Second theory speculates the inhibition of plaque formation and adhesion of bacteria due to the viscous nature of the oil. 13 According to the third theory, presence of antioxidants in oil prevent lipid peroxidation and thus help to the destruction of microorganisms and potentiating the action of Vitamin E in the oral cavity.14 The effect of oil pulling on halitosis and the use of oil pulling in addition to conventional oral hygiene practices was investigated in some studies13,15,16 but to the best knowledge of the authors, no study has evaluated the plaque-inhibiting effects of oil pulling. Therefore this study was conducted to evaluate the plaque-inhibiting effects of oil pulling using 4- day plaque regrowth study model17,18 compared to 0.2% CHX-containing mouthrinse. The tested hypothesis was that oil pulling would perform plaque regrowth inhibition as well as the CHX-containing mouthrinse.