Coconut Oil for Your Teeth? Does your dentist think you're coco-nuts for trying the newest mouthwash craze?

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You’ve probably read online that you can swish coconut oil around in your mouth, and it will cure all your dental ills. No more cavities. No more gingivitis. No more bacteria. Huzzah! Just spend 10–20 minutes 3–5 times a week oil pulling (at first, I thought it was “pooling” as in a swimming pool in your mouth, oh well), and your teeth will be beautiful and perfect. No more need to listen to awful nasty dentists like me about brushing and flossing, right?

First of all, I want to say congratulations to the marketing team behind coconut oil. You guys are crushing it these days. We’re rubbing it in our hair. I’m cooking with it because apparently “healthy” vegetable oils have been trying to kill me this whole time. So much for all that “smart” balance margarine my well-intentioned Mom fed me as a child. Coconut oil is the new darling of the healthy fat world, and I have nothing against that. As far as I can tell, it’s good stuff if you consume a reasonable amount and limit your intake of other less healthy fats.

What has really blown my mind about these coconut oil marketers, though, is their ability to get dental patients to swish something in their mouth for 20 (Twenty?!) minutes. What? I can’t get patients to brush or floss their teeth for 2 minutes, but the coconut oil faithful will eye roll and death stare me if I suggest their new 20-minute ritual is less effective than my 4 minute one. I won’t bore you with what’s so incredible about brushing and flossing here. I have videos for that over on my YouTube channel. But boy howdy and gee whiz, if I could convince patients to change habits the way coconut oil people have been able to, I’m pretty confident I could eliminate tooth decay from the face of this earth.

So, I’m in awe of whoever has instigated the coconut oil craze. You know how to talk to people far more convincingly than I do. That being said, the rest of this article is likely a fool’s errand, but I’m going to try anyway.

Let’s knock out a few basic ideas in quick succession.

I don’t think swishing coconut oil in your mouth will harm you in any significant way. It is a lipid, which is a sciency word for fat. What causes cavities is acid. Fats aren’t acidic.¹ Bacteria in your mouth can’t turn fats into acid. Bacteria can only ferment sugar and produce acid. That’s why sugar and lots of sticky/pasty carbs (which are just chains of smaller sugar molecules) mess up your teeth.

Will coconut oil eliminate the bacteria in your mouth that are capable of fermenting sugar and causing cavities? No. I do not know of any credible study that has shown this to be true. There have been discussions of finding a “cavity vaccine” that would eliminate these bacteria from our mouths, and that would be a terrifically manageable fix to all our cavity woes. To my knowledge, coconut oil is not such a cure. I have not seen any biologically plausible explanation as to why coconut oil would be effective in this way. This study and this study about its supposed benefits do not quantify the reduction in Streptococcus mutans (the major cavity-causing bacterium). Relevant question: Does oil pulling reduce S. mutans to a level where you can safely eat all the sugar you want without getting cavities? Answer? Uh…no? No, we don’t have any evidence of that. Also, 20–60 subjects in a study isn’t exactly a home run from a statistical power standpoint. If you don’t believe me and think I’m lying and want to swish coconut oil around in your mouth for 20 minutes 3–5 days a week, go for it with gusto my friend. As I said above, I don’t think it will hurt you. As far as I can tell, all it’s done for me is make my hair more luxurious. Who am I to deny you luxurious teeth? Just do me a favor and don’t stop brushing and flossing. Also, please do stop eating so much sugar and drinking so much acid. Also, smoking? No amount of coconut oil can protect you from the wrath of smoking. No judgment; I’m just tellin’ it like it is.

Will coconut oil kill the bacteria responsible for causing gum disease so you can skip flossing? No. You know how everyone freaked out back in 2016 about how we don’t have any studies on why flossing is so awesome for preventing cavities between teeth and stopping/reversing gum disease? Yea, we definitely don’t have any convincing studies for oil pulling having an effect in this department. Would you feel better if I started lying to you about oil pulling instead? I wouldn’t. I have way more faith in flossing. Why? Because there is a biologically plausible explanation for why flossing is effective. Wanna learn about that? Here’s a video. Here’s another article.

I get it. You trust your friend Cynthia in yoga class a lot more than you trust a jerk-faced dentist like me. I don’t have anything against Cynthia. I don’t have anything against yoga. I do yoga at home all the time. It’s the best. I feel better after I do yoga, even though there aren’t any scientific studies that can pin down exactly what’s so great about it for you or if it’s just some kind of placebo effect. Maybe swishing with coconut oil makes you feel high on life. I’m not trying to ruin your buzz. Just please don’t stop brushing and flossing. Use a fluoride toothpaste. Can we compromise, and you swish with coconut oil for 16 minutes and brush and floss for 4 minutes? Pretty please? You’d make my day.

What has really blown my mind about these coconut oil marketers, though, is their ability to get dental patients to swish something in their mouth for 20 (Twenty?!) minutes. What? I can’t get patients to brush or floss their teeth for 2 minutes.

Alright, that’s all I have to say about coconut oil. What about other mouthwashes? Ya know, the 30-second variety of mouthwashes? The ones that sting like a son-of-a but leave you feeling minty fresh? What about the ones that contain the devil’s juice? There are all sorts of mouthwashes out there. If you don’t opt for coconut oil mouthwash, should you bother with any other mouth washing fluids?

Mouthwash for Cavities?

There is some limited evidence² that using a fluoride-containing mouthwash can help prevent cavities. You can learn more about why fluoride isn’t trying to kill you here. You can watch a video of me talking about why fluoride can protect and strengthen your teeth here.

Fluoride is often provided in our public water supply (I’m sorry if that makes you angry. This is a democracy. You’re free to write to your local representative an angry letter. Getting pissed at me in the comments won’t help.) Fluoride is in most toothpastes (at least the ones that are worth using). Why then would you also need a fluoride mouthwash on top of that?

I don’t know Steve, have you been putting excessive amounts of sugar and acid in your mouth because you live in a country that actively strives to convince its citizens to eat a bunch of trash food and drinks that destroy our health every day? Are you trapped in a food desert? Then, maybe you need a little extra fluoride until we can get you to a more stable place where you can eat whole foods and drink water instead of “sports” drinks, “energy” drinks, confectionary treats from the local “coffee” shop, and extra-large sodas from “gas” stations. They’re not really gas stations. They’re anti-health war zones, I say! See, I can get worked up and irrational too.³

Seriously though, if you struggle with getting frequent cavities or if you have issues with dry mouth, rinsing with a fluoride mouthwash IN ADDITION TO, NOT AS A REPLACEMENT FOR, brushing and flossing could be a good idea for you. The mouthwash may get some fluoride in the spaces between your teeth where the toothpaste from your brush doesn’t flow as easily. There are fluoride mouthwashes that don’t contain alcohol if you want to avoid that. Look for sodium fluoride as the active ingredient.

If you use a sodium fluoride mouthwash, I would recommend first brushing and flossing, then rinse with water thoroughly and spit. Then swish with the fluoride mouthwash for at least 30 seconds and spit. Do not rinse with water after rinsing with the sodium fluoride mouthwash. Letting the residual fluoride sit on your teeth longer will give it more time to bond to the teeth for added protection from acid.

Mouthwash for Gum Disease/Gingivitis?

My mom buys essential oils from some gypsy⁴ at the mall and claims that if you rub them on your stomach you won’t get tummy aches or something. I don’t think this is true. Unfortunately, I have to admit essential oils may be able to do something to help your gums.

We have some limited evidence that mouthwash containing essential oils (menthol, thymol, methyl salicylate, and eucalyptol) may provide some benefit in fighting the bacteria that cause gum disease. The rinse doesn’t have to contain alcohol if you can’t stand that burning zing. You are WAY BETTER OFF FLOSSING your teeth each night, but if you want extra bonus points, essential oils won’t hurt. Do it in between coconut oil sessions. Heck, if you’re an entrepreneur, find a way to mix those essential oils with coconut oil. Throw some charcoal in the mix, and you’ll probably be a gazillionaire overnight. People love charcoal for some reason.

Here is a very in-depth literature review regarding active ingredients and their effects on plaque and gingivitis if you prefer reading scientific journal articles over my stream of conscious dental rants.

If you don’t trust me and you don’t want to read an in-depth literature review, maybe you’ll put your faith in a fancy pants Ivy League Dental School?

There is another prescription mouthwash called chlorhexidine that is like taking a bazooka to the bacteria in your mouth, but us dental folks don’t bring out the big guns like that unless you have a really nasty case of trench mouth or something similar. It can be beneficial in getting your gums to recover from more severe gum disease. It can also cause a lot of staining with your teeth. If you ever use chlorhexidine, wait to eat or drink for 45 minutes to an hour afterwards. Otherwise, your teeth can wind up a funky greenish-brown color.

Mouthwash to Whiten Your Teeth?

Nope. I’m not convinced on this one. Haven’t seen a good study. Unless you want to hold it in your mouth for hours at a time, I think this is silly. If you are willing to hold peroxide in your mouth for hours but won’t brush and floss your teeth…I gotta be honest: I have an impulse to slap you across the face at this point. You make no sense to me as a human being. At least people who are against vaccines are afraid of something irrational, and that’s causing their aversion. I don’t understand what is so repulsive and frightening about brushing and flossing. Can we at least invent an irrational boogeyman related to flossing so that I can understand? What if we said that flossing causes ADHD? Maybe that would catch on?

You can buy various peroxide mouthwashes that claim to whiten your teeth. I don’t buy it. Of course, it’s your money so do what you want with it. I put together an article and a video all about whitening. Using trays with gel makes way more sense to me. Get the trays made by a dentist; keep them for life. Buy the gel off Amazon. It’s pretty simple.

Mouthwash for Kids?

No. Not really.

You should supervise and assist in brushing and flossing your child’s teeth. Here’s an article all about how to take care of your kid’s mouth. Here’s a video all about how to take care of your kid’s mouth.

Officially, the recommendation is that kids shouldn’t be using mouthwash younger than age 6. Personally, I might bump that up a couple of years to more like 8. You need to be sure they understand they are NOT supposed to drink any of it. I feel like I was pretty dumb when I was 6, and I don’t think I should have been trusted with that. Maybe that’s me being a biased adult, but I also seem to remember choking on hot dogs.

Want to prevent cavities for your kids? Don’t keep sugary snacks in the house.

Gum disease typically doesn’t present until adulthood other than in rare cases, and primary/baby teeth are already naturally whiter than adult teeth. What I’m saying is that you wouldn’t need to give them anything other than a fluoride mouthwash.

Summary:

Coconut pull if you want to, but I don’t think it does anything.

Fluoride mouthwashes may be helpful for you if you struggle with cavities and/or dry mouth.

Essential oil mouthwashes may help fight gum disease.

Trying to whiten your teeth with a mouthwash is unlikely to be effective.

Don’t let young kids use mouthwash. If they accidentally swallow it, that can be very toxic.

In closing, the one mouthwash I can definitively tell you WILL damage your teeth MORE than any other is…drum roll, please…soda pop. It’s full of sugar and acid. It’s like taking a sawed-off shotgun to your teeth. Not to be culturally insensitive, but they should call that crap hillbilly teeth in a can.⁵ Never swish around with soda. If you’re really smart, you won’t even touch the stuff. It’s basically a dressed-up poison for your body. The same goes for “energy” and “sports” drinks. If you ever catch Cynthia drinking soda or some caffeine-infused can of “Kick-Ass Murder” or whatever the sugar and caffeine peddlers have decided to name the next one of these kidney strangling death drinks, know that she is a fraud and her coconut oil pulling was all a pernicious lie to cover up her coke habit.

Thanks for reading.

Footnotes:

¹ Even though they are made up of fatty acids. Ya know how oil and water don’t mix? That’s because oil is a fat. If you mix an acid with water, there is proton exchange, and the water gets more acidic and can damage your teeth, but if you mix a lipid with water, it just kind of slips and slides around in there, and you probably don’t care about this janky chemistry lesson I’m muddling through…Sorry.

² A systematic review that looks at studies that involved over 15,000 patients is a teeny bit more credible than studies that looked at a grand total of about 100 patients, but even then it is admittedly not high-quality evidence by rigorous scientific standards. That’s why I’m saying a fluoride mouthwash is a supplement to brushing and flossing.

³ If you’re not here to attack me over my support of fluoride, I’m sorry.

⁴ There I go being culturally insensitive again. If I meet an untimely end at the hands of a hillbilly gypsy, you’ll know the reasons why. It’s ok. I will have deserved my fate.

⁵ This was without question culturally insensitive. Sometimes I’m a jerk. I can’t help it.

Michael FrankeJuly 14, 2021