If you wear dentures, you may be more prone to getting oral thrush infections than you were before you had your false teeth fitted. Often known as dental stomatitis, this kind of thrush can make your mouth feel very uncomfortable; you may also find that your dentures are painful to wear. While medications may help you get rid of a case of thrush, they may not prevent it returning. If you have persistent problems, you may want to try oil pulling to see if that can get rid of the problem once and for all.
How Oil Pulling Deals With Thrush
Oil pulling is considered to be a natural way of detoxifying your mouth without using harmful chemicals. Swilling a spoon of oil around your mouth helps keep your mouth clean, healthy and free from bacteria. Oral bacteria sticks to the oil you pull, allowing you to remove the bacteria from your mouth at the end of the process when you spit out the oil.
From a thrush perspective, oil can help you deal with your symptoms and the infection. For example, the oil may help hydrate and soothe a sore mouth, making it less uncomfortable. Some oils may also be able to tackle your thrush at its source and help kill it off.
Typically, yeast infections are treated with antifungal medications. As well as removing oral bacteria, some oils have antifungal properties that can kill an oral yeast infection like thrush. For example, coconut oil contains caprylic acid, a fatty acid with antifungal components. On this basis, pulling with coconut oil may help you eliminate your infection.
Tip: Take your dentures out when you oil pull. Oil pulling can be hard when you're wearing dentures; this also allows the oil to reach all of the soft tissues in your mouth.
Preventing Oral Thrush From Returning
While a daily oil pull may get rid of an existing oral thrush infection and help keep subsequent infections at bay, it's also worth taking other measures to knock the problem on the head once and for all. For example, you may be more prone to have thrush problems if your oral hygiene isn't great. The following tips may help improve the situation:
If your dentures are looser than they used to be, they may be causing your thrush infections by rubbing on parts of your mouth. Ask your dentist to check the fit for you. A simple reline that adds a layer to your denture plate may be enough to make your teeth fit better; however, in some cases, your dentist may recommend a new set of dentures if yours no longer fit well at all.
Share27 May 2016
When I had my first child, I was a nervous wreck. Every book I read gave different advice, and I just wanted to be right! By the time I had my third child, some of the stress had abated. I now realised, there were tons of different perspectives on everything related to raising children including dentistry. To help parents, I have created this blog dedicated to unraveling dental myths about children. I am including posts that weigh both sides of issues such as thumb sucking, dental caries, breastfeeding, flossing and any other topic I can think of. I hope you find the information you need to unravel dental myths, but most importantly, I hope you find some peace of mind. With kids and dentistry, there can be more than one right answer, and I want you to be able to relax and go with the answer that's right for you.
