Oil pulling, coconut and charcoal toothpaste

Sooooo....it's been a bit. I've been busy! As much as I love to write, so many other issues in my life take precedence. Next thing I know..a few days without writing turns into weeks and here I am. Pretty healthy and stuff.
Lemme break it down for ya.
In my family, we have a genetic predisposal to bad teeth. A few family members have disintegrating jaw bones, not to mention the rest of us plagued with huge dental bills. No matter what we have done, it seems it's been a losing battle. In addition to general poor health history, most of us have crappy teeth. Because we've had crappy teeth, it seems a lot of us are sickly most of our lives. It kind of makes sense. The mouth is teeming with trillions of bacteria. Anything we put in our mouth circulates, in some form, in our blood. Our mouth is near our brain. Math....

There is a history of taking medication in the family. Most of us grew up idolizing doctors, because they fixed shit. They figured out what was wrong, and addressed it. Sometimes it took a few tries, because of horrible side effects, or maybe the wrong diagnosis. Still, our lives became somewhat liveable..unless a person got cancer.
It was curtains. Which really sucks.
So, I got to thinking months ago, about how conditioned we are to think any malady can best be remedied with  prescription. Even if the side effects suck. We've laughed for years at those folks who think that some simple food item, or plant, can take care of an illness or symptom better than a pill.
See..I have issues with that. Although too much of anything can tax our organs to the hilt, or accidently kill us even..I still think I'd rather FIRST try something organic, natural or simple. Because at least then I know I tried to first remedy my diet, my habits, my approach.
Then..I will begrudgingly go to the doctor. He will write me a script. I will pout. While getting it filled, I will sit and think about the variety of side effects that can plague me. I mean, some of them are deadly.
Then, I'll go home and take it with food and water. I will wait. I will hope like hell it works, because my miserable ass tried to ride it out, and now I feel like warmed over poo.

Anyway, back when I went into the Navy, I got this novice dentist. I still don't know how he was equipped to drive and walk around without a helmet, much less work on something like teeth. I had a few cavities, and he drilled down so deep he cracked every one of my stinking molars. EVERY DAMN ONE.
So although I had pretty decent dental hygiene at the time, it seemed like one day, I liked to smile. The next day, I was in a hurry and brushing my teeth, and accidently knocked my tooth clean out of my mouth. Soon after that, my teeth began disintegratinug and falliung out by chips or pieces. Before that dastardly dental TKO, I had fillings fall out once in a while. But after that day, my teeth said obviously "fuck this shit" and uniformly loosened in my gums.

I've been battling this for a long time. Unfortunatly, about five years ago, I began having vague flashbacks about being violated in the bathroom. It got so bad that I hated having the door closed, and brushing my teeth made my heart pound. I have yet to figure out exactly what happened in a bathroom all those years ago. I do know, that once I began having those flashbacks, I became really averse to brushing or flossing. It's embarassing.
I explained to my dentist about two years ago, that between the crappy military dentistry and my flashbacks, that I had pretty much accepted I'd have dentures in my late 40's. He smiled sadly at me, because he didn't have to make the bad news pretty. I'd have to have root canals, have a few pulled, and address the impacted wisdom tooth in the back. Cleanings would be painful, and just maintaining my current teeth would cost upwards of $5000 or more every few years, until I would be comfortable getting dentures.
I left in tears.

About a month ago, I realized that I was developing a deep cavity under a filling. FUCK.
It graduated from a slight "hello" to a "bitch, who's your mama?" monster in a matter of hours. Oh, my god. I examined the tooth, and took a look up top, and it's pretty apparent, that my jaw bone had begun to deteriorate too. I wanted to cry.
Already the high queen of trying new holistic therapies, I found an article on oil pulling. Some folks use coconut oil. Others use sesame or olive oil. Whatever they do, they swish it around in their mouth for 20 minutes a day. They spit it out and rinse their mouth. They have breakfast, or not, and then brush their teeth, with oil, not toothpaste.
I was skeptical.
But then I ran across a billion different pages with testimonials about virgin cold pressed coconut oil. I thought that I really had nothing to lose, so I did it. Within the first swishing, my teeth felt amazing. I slept better that night than I had. My pain was more managable.
The next day, I did it twice. I slept better than I had in a month.
The third day no more pain, and my gums looked healthier. Tartar was falling off in chunks. My tongue was pink again. I had stopped bleeding from the gums when I brushed my teeth.
My teeth feel secure in my mouth, and my jawbone feels strong too.
This is the weirdest shit ever.

My sinuses began to clear up on their own. I stopped needing an inhalor.
It's been a month, my loves.

With the exception of becoming too overzealous with the oil pulling, it's been great. I would advise those of you thinking about it to do your research. I would advise you to only do it once or twice a day, because morons like me sometimes do it five times a day and throw their bodies into a damn healing crisis.
This is the thing..whether you think that oil pulling is toxin removal, or a culling of the bacteria bachelorette party in your mouth, or whether it's 20 minutes of salivation that's healing..the results speak for themselves.

My gums stopped receding about three weeks ago. My gums are pink and healthy. My horrible breath is horrible no longer, even in the morning. My hair and skin look freaking gorgeous, which is awesome, because Pittsburgh is cold as hell right now.

Also, I was able to avoid every single nasty bug that was passed around this winter. Something about oil pulling has boosted my immunity. I bypassed the bad stomach bugs, etc. Not only was I oil pulling, but I continued eating Greek yogurt and taking probiotics this whole winter. It's amazing, what something so simple can do.
So, I have slept like a baby for a MONTH. I haven't slept that well since I was in my early twenties.
I don't like to waste money, nor do I have a habit of liking everything I try. Still, oil pulling was a fabulous idea. I don't care why it works, all I know is it DOES.
Now, you can let the doctor give you meds, or you can suffer through feeling miserable.
Or you can try to do something different. This was my something different.
I hope you find what works for you.
So you can feel like I do..and maybe, just maybe..head off something crappy.

I love my smile now. In addition to oil pulling, I am now brushing my teeth with Neem toothpaste, which has Neem Oil in it, which kills bacteria. I also brush twice a week with activated charcoal. My teeth look amazing, and there is no inflammation left in my mouth at all. I know I will need work done on my mouth eventually, but I'm thinking it won't be dentures for a long, long time.
And that makes me pretty effing happy. :)