this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Rhubarb contains oxalic acid, which is used in some tooth whitening products.

This is not medical advice to eat tons of it, though. It genuinely attacks your enamel, and swallowing lots of oxalic acid isn't recommended either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb#Oxalic_acid

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

White teeth and a kidney stone.

[–] chonglibloodsport 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

You might as well brush your teeth with this stuff:

(Don’t do this!)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I have been convinced oil pulling, swishing coconut oil around in your mouth(there's a few recommended oils) works by people in the real world I know who have done it and it worked for them, although I did it for 3 months and I believe I noticed a small difference but I didn't keep it up.

as far as regularly consumed food or drinks, no, not that I know of.

[–] UnrepentantAlgebra 27 points 3 days ago (1 children)

How to oil pull: Put about 1 tbsp (15 mL) of oil in your mouth Swish the oil around your mouth for about 15–20 minutes Spit out the oil, then brush your teeth

Hmmm I'll live with my coffee stained teeth, thanks

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

for it, it's not a requirement.

oil pulling is specifically for people who want to whiten their teeth, not for everybody who drinks coffee.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I also have a friend who oil pulled for her sensitive teeth and told me it worked. Coconut oil also has antibacterial (if I’m remembering correctly) properties that supposedly help fight gum disease. Not positive about that one though

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv-A6rSUM8c

this video convinced me that oil pulling is antimicrobial even though the professed conclusion of the video, as espoused by the dentist working with the YouTuber, is that oil pulling doesn't work, even though there are less bacteria present after the oil pulling.

before oil pulling: every squiggly purple line inside the empty spaces is a separate spirochete.

I counted well over a dozen spirochetes wiggling around before the oil pulling.

it zooms in on one little corridor near the end of the "before" microscope analysis, and in just that one little corridor, you can plainly see half a dozen spirochetes wiggling together.

after The oil pulling:

there's very clearly only one in the entire slide, and the dentist mentions this specifically, but says since there are any spirochetes at all, there's no difference before and after.

after the oil pulling with that on screen, the dentist specifically says "there's no such thing as one mouse" while examining the patient after oil pulling, so you know he's looking at one spirochete on screen, and you can also plainly only see one on screen, while before the oil pulling, the dentist videos are full of spirochetes, zoomed in or out.

by what you can count on screen before and after, there are more than 90% fewer bacteria found after the oil pulling, so it seems like oil pulling works for gum disease, at least for this patient.

I'd love to see more studies on this.

or a follow-up to that video.

[–] cheese_greater 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

No way? Does coconut cream/milk contain a reasonable amount of coconut oil or must it be regular coconut oil to get the benefit?

I drink this shit regularly, like a substantial amount daily

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I couldn't answer about the coconut milk. you mean the thick opaque milk, right, not coconut water?

it's specifically swishing around the coconut oil for 5 to 15 minutes everyday that people say leaches out the yellow color, but I haven't heard anything about the cumulative effect of long-term coconut milk drinking.

I'll add that most YouTube dentists say that oil pulling doesn't work, but they all specifically mention that it can't work because there are not enough scientific studies on it, which isn't a great argument.

and after meeting a few people who have done it and seeing their teeth gradually whiten to movie-star white, plus my own very debatable 1-2 shade whiter after a couple months, I'm convinced that it does work on some level.

especially because the people I know are hippies who would never go to the dentist or whatever, so I doubt they got their teeth whitened artificially.

[–] cheese_greater 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Awesome! This is one of the coolest things I've ever learned! Imma start swishing (do we swish or fill the mouth with it?

edit: what if i keep it in my mouth WHILE brushing (coconut oil)?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

you don't have to use a lot, like 1 tbsp is fine, and then you just swish it around.

it'll be pretty difficult to keep tge oil inside your mouth while brushing, but I don't see why you can't try it out, who knows?

since there aren't a lot of scientific studies, there aren't a lot of dogmatically proven methods, so you could be the first!

in fact, if it works, tell me, because I am going to start oil pulling again because I was very encouraged by the results and after the first couple times it doesn't even feel that gross, it's just a routine thing like brushing your teeth in the morning.

and I was kind of lacking days ago about it, so I think I'm going to do mornings and evenings and just try and really see a difference.

[–] cheese_greater 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

yeah, anecdotally people use all kinds of oils, mct oil among them, coconut oil is just the most popular. I think people like it because it's so easy to get organic, one ingredient coconut oil for cheap

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

I suspect some pastries contain unhealthy amounts of sodium bicarbonate (or alike) and they will whiten your teeth, but may also slightly damage them in the long run.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Grapefruit. Probably attacks the enamel some too.

Look at your teeth before (take a picture first actually), Peel a grapefruit into sections and eat them (like an orange). Take after photo and compare.