Mechanism of oil-pulling therapy - in vitro study.

Background: Oil pulling has been used extensively as a traditional Indian folk remedy without scientific proof for many years for strengthening teeth, gums and jaws and to prevent decay, oral malodor, bleeding gums and dryness of throat and cracked lips.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of sesame oil and lignans isolated from sesame oil on oral microorganisms and to check whether saponification or emulsification occurs during oil-pulling therapy.

Materials And Methods: The in vitro study was carried out in three different phases: (1) Antibacterial activity of the lignans and sesame oil were tested by minimum inhibitory concentration assay by agar dilution method and agar well diffusion method, respectively.

Photochemical yields in ribonuclease and oxidized glutathione irradiated at different wavelengths in the ultraviolet.

The quantum yields for the disruption of various amino acids in glutathione and ribonuclease by 229, 254, 265, and 280 nm UV photons have been determined. The results of the measurements on the destruction of tyrosine and histidine and the loss of enzymic function in RNAse and the disruption of cystine in both compounds lead to the following conclusions: (a) The photodestruction of some and perhaps many constituent amino acid residues does not cause RNAse inactivation. (b) Contrary to the basic premise of proposals made by other authors, the photochemical yields of constituent residues in a protein are not the same as that for the same amino acids in solution alone-the difference is a function of the exciting wavelength.