Self-Care with an Oral Dare!
- ElleSkell
- Sep 4, 2017
- 6 min read
Almost a year ago, a lot of things shifted for me and for what my life was to become. I’d recently realized I was simply incapable of doing the same things I’d always done, nor could I do them in the same ways I’d always done them. After putting a year in at a law firm, as a civil litigation paralegal—a position I loved, by and large—I was quickly backsliding into desperation and stress, and greatly feared landing back in a situation I’d worked very hard to say goodbye to.
Once again, I found myself lucky to work with and for extremely kind people who understood my life was taking a different track altogether, and shortly after leaving, I started my own business. The hope was to forge a new way to live my life sustainably...
That, however, is a story for a different time. It’s only relevant now to describe the kind of winds of change happening in my life at the time, and the transformation blooming therein.
It probably hasn’t escaped anyone alive how expensive dental examinations are, not to even mention how expensive corrective dental procedures are. In a world where taking care of oneself can prevent financial disasters, different methods of self-care can help us in more ways than just making us feel good and more positive!
I’d had braces as a child. Big, fat, painful braces for six long years. I started prepping for them when I was in elementary school and had them removed at the end of my Freshman year of High School.
As it happens, Freshman year was a big one for me. I had a .46 GPA by the end of it and was facing legal repercussions and a trip to Virginia to visit my aunt and uncle, which my parents hoped would set me on the straight and narrow. In a way, it did…but that, too, is a story for another time.
I remember vividly the first orthodontist I ever had sitting me down and telling me exactly what happens to teeth when braces come off after years of people wearing them not taking proper care of their oral health.
(The genius work of art does not belong to me, but is a random image from the internet of doom inspired by Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
Needless to say, he scared the bejesus out of me and I took incredibly good care of maintaining utmost oral hygiene so I would have beautiful teeth when done, as well as straight ones.
Sometimes, though, life has other plans for us that throw huge energy roadblocks in our way and keep us from being able to maintain such standards. In my case, when I returned from Washington, D.C.—out of my mind and waiting on a doctor who would perform a radical hysterectomy on a 27 year old whose life had become poisoned by bottomed out hormones and copious opiates—I could barely be trusted to take my medication the right way, or shower.
...so, too, disintegrated my long-time and very diligent oral hygiene habits.
Make no mistake, I did what most do and (for me anyway) the bare minimum of what had once been a lifetime practice. As I slowly climbed out of my soul-breaking illnesses, I realized how awful the state of my oral hygiene had become. Perhaps not unlike others around me, and in some cases much better, but still not up to the standards that had been instilled from long years of coping with braces.
A friend in my life at the time advised me on a few natural remedies that I should look into: 1) brushing and swishing with hydrogen peroxide 3% solution (the drug store brown bottle that comes very cheaply) and 2) Oil Pulling, an eastern medicinal (or Ayervedic) practice of swishing with organic virgin coconut oil.
Many people struggle with alternative solutions, believing that the new and improved ways are best, but I can categorically tell you there is no reason you cannot utilize all of the above, and that by doing so I personally completely changed the state of my oral hygiene, and also my overall immune response and health as a result.
The best explanations for oil pulling I found are linked herein this post. My favorite, I think, is from Wellness Mama, though I do believe strongly the only oil you should use for this process is organic virgin coconut oil, as even if you hate the taste of coconut, it tastes the best of all the options, and there is notable discussion that it works the best as well.
During this time period, I was receiving regular massages by a very talented LMT (the Wonder Andys of Alternative Care are another topic altogether, and I look forward to talking about them in a separate blog very soon!), and I found taking action on my oral hygiene made the healing process being established through massage much more potent as well.
The first thing I did, before I brushed with toothpaste like normal, was floss and then pour hydrogen peroxide solution over my toothbrush and apply it to my teeth and gums. It’s important to not leave the solution on long—30 seconds will do—before swish-rinsing with water.
Every couple of days I would start or end my day by flossing and then swishing hydrogen peroxide around in my mouth for 30 seconds, swish-rinse with water, and then go through it again.
It feels funny at first, and can taste even weirder, but you will not believe how fresh and clean your teeth, gums, and overall mouth begin to feel very shortly after starting this practice. Don’t take my word on the safety of hydrogen peroxide solution—definitely do your own due diligence here, but please know the 3% solution is safe, and you will impress the heck out of your dentist and oral hygienist the next time you see them!
When I got brave enough to agree to put a gob of coconut oil in my mouth and swish it around for a period of time, I did so. It wasn’t the worst experience I’ve ever had, though it was strange, and you must be very careful not to swallow any of it—YUCK!
For two reasons this is disgusting: 1) who wants to swallow any amount of pure oil, even if you love coconut?; and 2) whether or not you’re someone who wants to believe that things people refer to as toxins exist in our body, believe me when I tell you the last thing you want to do is swallow a mouthful of collected oral germs. DOUBLE YUCK!!
The traditional practitioners advise that 20 minutes of oil pulling should be your goal, but I found it necessary to build up to this, and I do not do it every day—more like a couple times a week if I’m being really good, and a couple times a month if I’m being really honest about my consistency with it.
For good measure, a few times a week I also swished and gargled with warm salt water, and for the first time truly made flossing an everyday habit, and continue to utilize both of these practices as well.
Yes, it takes time.
Yes, if your mouth is full of germs, it isn’t always fun to floss, and sometimes painful and bloody—but it is extremely important! Sometimes dentists are expensive and seem greedy and aligned with sadism, but they are not joking about the importance of flossing…
Within a week of putting these steps of oral hygiene into practice, I saw an immediate difference!
I also had an immediate intuition that my immune response had more power than it did before, and that it would be moving on to other parts of my body with the newly freed up availability it had. I was not wrong, not even remotely.
The next massage I received resulted in extreme shifts, my sleep got deeper and more consistent, heavily processed food I’d always eaten no longer tasted good, and unbeknownst to me at the time—within two months I would drop my first 15 pounds of real weight I had been holding onto for my entire life in one form or another.
Happy Labor Day, America—please celebrate safely and with love for each and every one. For everyone else, have a joyful return to your Monday and come back again soon!
