FR (NYC) on 10/01/2007

My story (I'll try to be brief)... got a piece of food stuck in the gum behind one of my front teeth. No matter what I did -- floss, oil pull, swish peroxide -- it didn't come out. I then went to a new dentist last week to have my teeth cleaned and the stuck particle removed. Lucky me -- the hygenist was just filling in for the day and during the teeth cleaning part, said she saw something dislodge but then "lost sight of it". Okay, fine, I thought. That night I awoke in the middle of the night with terrible bad breath. It was so bad it actually woke me up. Yes, I do have sensitive smell!! When I looked at the right front tooth the next day, I noticed that the gum was severely swollen, from the tooth to the roof of the mouth. The bad breath also persisted. I started my holistic regime of oil pulling, then later swishing with hydrogen peroxide. The oil pulling, like Subashini said, made my breath worse. YUCK! I tried swishing with sea salt. No luck. Finally I had the idea a couple of days ago to soak a cotton ball with hydrogen peroxide and then hold it (tightly) to the swollen gum for 10 minutes. I also pinched another h202 soaked cotton ball to the back side of the tooth where the piece of food had initially lodged. Interestingly, it didn't hurt, but certain areas of the gum turned white. 10 minutes later the white had disappeared. Glad to say that my bad breath smell immediately disappeared and has not returned. My gum is looking a little better. A couple more days of this (soaked h202 2x a day) and I think I will be back to 100%. I highly suggest this technique if you have a tooth abcess or swollen gums from an infection. It is the best way for hydrogen to penetrate, otherwise it just turns to foam if you swish it around in your mouth.

So Subashini, I think your issue may be an infection somewhere in your gums that the oil pulling is bringing to the surface. Infection smells like dental plaque -- quite disgusting. My suggestion is to pull up your top lip (then pull down the bottom lip) in the mirror in daylight and look for redness in your gums. If you can pinpoint an area, then soak it with hydrogen peroxide cotton ball 2x a day for a day or two. I would predict that your issue of bad breath will immediately go away, even after you oil pull.

Oh, one more thing. You will need to bend over a sink whilst holding the cotton ball to your gums and let your saliva run out. You may need to do round 2 during the same session. Most importantly, you don't want to swallow anything! Rinse well afterwards. Hope this helps someone, somewhere. All My Best,