Full disclosure: I am not a dentist, periodontist, or any other kind of tist.... reviews, evaluations, recommendations are based on both personal experience and secondary commentary. I strongly recommend seeing a dentist or medical specialist that deals in dental/ gum disease. etc. I take no responsibility for any adverse side effects that occur when using any of the methods mentioned on this blog. 

Now that we got that out of the way.....

Since I was a child, I've been self-conscious about my smile; primarily because I thought I had bad looking teeth. Things didnt improve much as I got older because I smoked almost religiously for 30 years, and overdosed on colas, and coffee, while only brushing twice day, if that.

Good googly moogly........

Fast-forward years later, I now show my teeth when I smile: not so much because my teeth look better after all those years of neglect and bad living, but because I don't give as much of a crap as I used to.

Thing is, that's me; I'm not trying to captivate talent agents or casting directors with my smile. For you, on the other hand, this may be a bit more important, since giving these folks a strong looking smile can go leaps and bounds for your headshots.

Getting whiter teeth isn't always the easiest thing. But, with some patience, it can be done and on a modest budget, for the most part.

In the next few episodes, we'll talk about some of what you can use to make your teeth whiter. Keep in mind some of these tips and tricks are a lot easy to pull off, while others are a little bit more challenging. And for this series, I'm going renagade; instead of listing all of them together in one big fat article, I'm going to focus on one or two at a time.

Today, we explore a technique that dates back almost 3000 years technique called Coconut Oil Pulling.

Coconut oil pulling is a method used to help the teeth and gums get healthier and stay healthy. Essentially, you take a tablespoon of coconut oil, put in your mouth, swishing around for between 5 to 20 minutes making sure it passes through all the teeth in your mouth, and rinse. You can do this approximately three times a week, and when done right, should have some sort of benefits.

An important note, when you dispose of the used oil, spit it out in a little plastic baggie, or just spit it into the garbage. Reason being that this is still a hard oil, and when left at even room temp, it can start get hard again. Trust me. you don't want this stuff congealing in your sink, and then you have to get something to clear out your pipes because your sink eventually gets stopped up with that oil. 

According to Colleen Oakley, writing for web M.D., the practice is not based on pseudoscience. "Recent studies show that oil pulling helps against gingivitis,, and microorganisms that cause bad breath". The process works by drawing all the bad stuff in your mouth into this slurry, that you eventually spit out. So it's safe to say, that oil pulling definitely has a benefit for protecting your mouth from harmful bacteria's which can lead to gum disease, which ultimately puts a strain and damage to your teeth.

While this is all good, we still haven't figured out if oil pulling actually does whiten teeth.

So what's the general consensus among some dentist? Well, in their learned opinions, oil pulling does in fact help gently scrub stains on teeth over time. And also because there is arguably a health benefit to the gums, the gums become more pink, resulting in teeth that appear more white looking.

In my own experience, I found that my teeth did get less brown, and more off-white, so that is something to cheer about. I have gum disease as well, and find my gums bleed from time to time. Having to go to the doctor to get my gums cleaned is painful, and cost bucks. Doing the pulling has helped pull more of that gunk out from my gums, thereby lessening the times I have to go in and get that costly and painful procedure done.

But damn if it isnt a pain in the ass to do; seriously, 20min a pop? Nah, Im good with five mins. per day, thank you.

So ultimately does coconut oil pulling actually create whiter teeth? It appears it can, to some slight extent. But to really get good quality results, will probably require something a little bit more purpose built to that process.

In the meantime though, if one is looking for healthier gums, and a little bit fresher breath, then coconut oil pulling is not a bad option to consider. And. honestly, if folks are doing this over centuries, can it be bad?

Jus sayin...

Additional tip: Cut down on your soft drink consumption- Not only do the sugars affect you teeth and gums, but they can also cause staining at quicker rates. I encourage you to try and start cutting down at least 3-4 weeks from the time you plan to get your acting headshots. Give your smile a fighting chance!