Oil Pulling and Old Mouth Cures

Theo Grant

Long before fluoride rinses and whitening strips, people swished oil, chewed twigs, and rinsed with salt water, and some of it held up better than you might expect. This is a clear-eyed look at those old habits: what oil pulling can and cannot do for your gums, which herbal rinses have real evidence behind them, where tradition overreaches into wishful thinking, and how to weigh any home remedy against what a dentist actually sees. Curious, fair-minded, never dismissive.