Of course there could be placebo effects. In my case, any noticeable benefits are very slow to come from OP. From what I read, it sounds like any health improvements from it are extremely slow to come. I stick to what I notice from it - my mouth feels much cleaner throughout the day (coupled with my switch to brushing my teeth with only baking soda), and I feel a pleasant "addiction" to it (that is, I don't have to remind myself to do it - it's become part of my daily routine, except for my recent vacation). As far as therapies go, this is a pretty cheap one. What's the worst that will happen? Someone will make fun of me for wasting my time & money doing it? Oh well, I have greater sins than OP in that respect :)

I am hoping it will play a part in the cleaning of the dark areas in the crevices of my molars, however. My teeth show signs of mild fluoridation, though...I have a long way to go with any significant changes to my teeth. I haven't noticed any improvement in receded gums or whiter teeth in my case.

I don't know the answer to your question. Health is a complex issue. Your personal life history has a strong role in your health. Simple oil pulling is not going to fix all of your problems. It may not fix your dental problems. Educating yourself in total well-being, in holistic health, is key.

In my husband's case, he had his Amalgams removed, then had tooth pain. He's had a root canal before, too. He had massive cold sensitivity and pain soon after the filling replacement and suspected the new composite fillings. He feared that replacing them had been a mistake and he would have to have another root canal, or worse. It turns out that there was a sliver of Amalgam still stuck to one of his teeth - that's where the pain turned out to be. The dentist removed that, and things have been pretty smooth since then (months now). He was doubting the ability of OP in helping him...but the cause of the problem was something OP alone couldn't fix.

Is placebo effect from something this cheap and easy such a bad thing? If it helps your mind heal your body, is it so terrible? Sometimes, I think one of the beneficial effects we get from something like OP is taking the time to take care of our bodies, to relax, to reflect...just setting aside some time each day to chill out, do some stretching, lie on the floor (I lie on 2 rolled up towels, one under my neck, one under my lower back, as suggested by my chiropractor), listen to some soothing music, take a nice bath, drink some herbal tea...that can help your health a lot, and you don't have to think of it as a "treatment" or anything.

Be kind to yourself :)

Have you read through the posts where people have added oregano oil to their regular oil? Or used organic virgin coconut oil? You might try a search within Oil Pulling Support to see posts on this. I have read it helps with infections.

I haven't really noticed a whitening of teeth but my sinuses drain every time I pull and my feet turn soft instead of rough and peeling. That's really good for me and it's better than taking a pill.

If you don't do anything else but OP, no, you will not you will not fix your problems. OP like anyother health program must be combind with a complete health program of diet, exercise and some form of stress relief.

Makes sense, no?

Silver Fox!

We have too many people now that have been to dentists that have confirmed that this is not placebo. You have to read through the R's to find them, but there they are.

If you are not experiencing great things, change your oil. Sometimes it's as simple as that.

Molly

I didn't notice any "results" until I added oregano oil.

Besides a cleaner mouth, my mouth hasn't really improved.

Total body effects such as softer skin and NO allergies are mainly what I've noticed. OP brings up a lot of phlegm for me.

JS

all dentist methods and materials cause harm. the removal of Amalgam fillings stops the poisoning from mercury. it does not give you trouble-free teeth. the damage was done long ago.

no one i know of has had a root canal fixed by oil pulling. no one has even thought it possible as far as i can tell. i dont see how that could happen.

when you went to a dentist for repair, it is a marriage for the life of the tooth.

everything we do has a mental component. i find it fascinating that alternative methods are always accused of including the placebo effect, yet when an allopathic method works, it is pure science. that begs all logic. many times the success rate of some drugs are LESS than the placebo effect and those are still approved. that means that the benefit from the drug is happening IN SPITE OF the drug, not because of it. more people would get well (if you want to call it that) WITHOUT the drug!

it is just oil, fergodsakes. if you are curious, just stop doing OP and see if your condition improves or worsens. you probably would not have gotten this far without it.

infections in the mouth effect the heart and can spill over into the rest of the head. you need to address that. also, i have had 12 Amalgams replaced and i still get sensitivity in them that wasnt there before. it just reminds me of how poor a choice it is to ever go to a dentist in the first place.

may you find healing with godspeed.

I've been OP for about three months now and do it once daily for 20 minutes while I'm getting organized for the day. My oral health has improved markedly. I recently went to the dentist for the annual cleaning and they were hard pressed to find plaque anywhere on my teeth. Now I have excellent teeth and only one spot they have been watching for the last 2 years. That spot seems to have disappeared. I have been refusing xrays and floride for several years now and OP gives me that much more confidence to speak my mind to my dentist who is a personal friend. As to some of the claims about blood cleansing I can't say but when it come to oral hygiene I would say OP is definately not a placebo. Overall health picture is something that must be taken into consideration in each individual case.

Sojo

For me, I have seen improvements, but I can't call it placebo. When I started oil pulling a few months ago, I was very skeptical. But I didn't have much choice since the doctors said they can't do anything for my eczema & psoriasis. So I just did it for the heck of it, and got in the habbit of doing it. I did not spend all my time hoping it would work, I just kept doing it out of habit and not thinking about it much. My mentality was if it worked, great, if I don't see anything in a couple months, I would quit.

For the first month, I did not see any improvements in my eczema. In fact, it got slightly worse. But I could feel slight changes in my body, if it wasn't helping my eczema it was doing something, so I kept going.

After a month and a half, I noticed my eczema was 50% gone. It had been such a slow gradual process, that I did even not notice my eczema was healing. I noticed the itching had reduced greatly, and I had not been scratching vigorously like before.

I saw improvements in my teeth the gums. The whitening was only slight, but my gums bleed much less. Before everytime I brush, by tooth brush would turn red of blood. Now, I may have a spec of blood every now and then.. and I am lazy I usually don't even brush my teeth before bed, nor do I floss.

But here's the big surprise: I saw healing an area that never even crossed my mind. For almost 6 years now, I've regularly have this yeast-like infection on my penis. I would get it at least once a week. I've learned to live with it and not let it bother me so much. So when I started oil pulling, the thought of this healing never crossed my mind. After two months of oil pulling, I noticed something was odd. Where is the infection that I always had every single week of my life? I had not seen it for a whole month. Today, after 3 months, I still haven't had that infection since.

I don't think oil pulling can't help everything, but it certainly helped me enough that it's worth it to keep going. I'm sorry for being so graphic, but sex is a lot better now that I don't have the gross and stinky infection down there.