Having as dazzling teeth as the sun is not natural for everyone (smokers, coffee/tea drinkers, or lazy ones when it comes to brushing their teeth). So, to get teeth as pure as the driven snow, there are several options available. Either you go to your dentist’s and your wallet will not like it, or you proceed to a homemade whitening session, but then you might have toothache.
Most teeth-whitening kits to be used at home are based on chemical ingredients that may trigger unpleasant reactions, or even prove strongly aggressive for your gums or enamel.
So, the question is: how can you get whiter teeth without it costing an arm and a leg, and without putting anything suspicious in your mouth? Using oil pulling, of course!

What is oil pulling?

The technique consists in leaving mouthwash in your mouth for 10 to 15 minutes with a vegetable oil. Gargling helps the oil go back and forth and contributes to remove the bacteria in your mouth and teeth.
It is an ancestral technique that belongs to traditional Indian medicine.

Who is it for? Which oil is recommended?

The method is accessible to all: you just need vegetable oil and about fifteen minutes.
The most commonly used oils are sesame and coconut oils, for their whitening properties and relatively nice taste (or less unpleasant than the others, depending where you stand).

Where can you find them?

For once, you will not need to go very far. Whether they be food or cosmetics oils, vegetable oils can be found everywhere.
Until recently, oil pulling was a concept, a way to do something, not a cosmetic product as such. But these days are over. Since June 2016, French brand Merci Handy has marketed a teeth-whitening kit (subtly?) named Smile Detox, and directly inspired from the oil pulling concept. CosmeticOBS has tested it.

What does the Smile Detox kit look like?

The treatment is presented in the form of single-dose sticks and available in three versions: one for 14 days, one for 28 days, and one for 42 days (about one month and a half, then). The size is convenient, as the daily single dose can be slid into your bag and gargled anywhere (or almost…), without having to carry your coconut oil jar with you.
It is also affordable, as the two-week treatment costs a bit less than €20, and the 42-day cure is €55.
The sticks are flavoured to make the experience more pleasant. You can choose between blackcurrant, mint, or liquorice. And for the indecisive, you can order a kit with the three flavours.

Composition

Just the once will not hurt, the list of ingredients is not very long: you will get some coconut oil, vegetable charcoal, and the flavour you selected. Only the latter is not natural, but it represents less than 1% of the formula. Last but not least, the products are made in France.

Test

After 1 day
Here we go, we have chosen the 14-day treatment, with a kit comprising the three flavours.
On the first day of the experience, the stick is hard, but that is normal: it is cold outside, and the coconut oil tends to get rigid. The brand anticipated this, as the sticks bear the indication ‘ PSSST: your straw is hard? Don’t panic, it is only natural! Rub it with your hands to warm it up .’ It also means that if the coconut oil gets solid, you should not throw it away (or spit it) anywhere, since it might eventually block up your pipes.
It is now time to swallow the first, blackcurrant-flavoured stick. Well, it tastes er… strange! Associated with the flavour, the oily texture of the product gives the impression you have a sweet in your mouth, but it has already melt. It is viscous, but in the end, it does not taste that bad.
It does feel quite long to keep the whole mixture in your mouth for 15 minutes. But if you are busy, it goes much faster, and the oral gymnastics gets automatic.
Time’s up! It is time to spit (how elegant…). Once you have rinsed your mouth, you do have a sensation of cleanliness and freshness.

After 7 days
Although the idea of an oil-based mouthwash sounds quite unappetizing, you gradually get used to it. The stick flavours are not unpleasant, and at the end of the day, 15 minutes gargling is not such a big deal.
Orally speaking, everything is fine. The ‘freshness-after-spitting’ is still there.

After 14 days
The complete treatment is over. From the whiteness standpoint, there has been some improvement, but the outcome is discreet.
However, the sensation of oral purification cannot be questioned, and then, even if it will not sound really charming, the breath is fresher.
NB: the 14-day treatment is the shorter version, but Merci Handy promises the results on whiteness are even more convincing if the product is tested over a longer period of time.

Still, it should be said that the oil pulling concept is not a medical answer to teeth yellowing. Indeed, the technique is often mocked by dentists. For many of them, mouthwash with vegetable oil is actually useless.
There is no doubt that for people suffering from serious enamel yellowing, oil pulling will not be of much help. However, others now have a natural option available for tooth care. And even if it is less efficient than a chemical treatment at the dentist’s, oil pulling does not involve much risk, and you know what you have in your mouth, even if it is hard to swallow…

JS