Effect of Virgin Coconut Oil in Plaque Related Gingivitis

Abstract

Introduction: In all individuals oral health is important. Irrespective of nationality, oral hygiene habits are taught in childhood itself. Tooth cleaning by the mechanical method is the most accepted method in the maintenance of oral hygiene worldwide. Presently to reduce plaque formation chemotherapeutic agents are used. Oil pulling is used for many years for strengthening gums, teeth and to prevent oral malodor and bleeding gums. Coconut oil is consumed as a staple diet. Coconut oil contains 50% of Lauric acid and 92% of saturated acid. The lauric acid contains anti-inflammatory properties.
 Aim: This study aimed to find out the efficacy of virgin coconut oil in plaque-related gingivitis.
 Materials and Methods: The sample size used for the study is 108, A self-structured questionnaire has been prepared and uploaded in Google forms. This standard questionnaire in Google forms is being circulated among the sample study population and at the end of the survey, all the data were collected and the data is been analyzed by using Chi-square analysis. The Chi-square analysis was done using the software IBM SPSS Software Version 23.
 Results: The Chi-square analysis was done and the association between gender and improvement in gingival health after oil pulling in the South Indian population was found to be statistically significant. Chi-square value:11.77 and p-value:0.038, (p<0.05) hence a statistically significant decrease in gingival and plaque was noticed during the study period.
 Conclusion: In summary, using Virgin coconut oil pulling could be an effective procedure in decreasing plaque-related gingivitis. This preliminary study shows that coconut oil is easily usable, cost-effective, and safe with minimal side effects which are used as an adjuvant in oral hygiene maintenance. Further studies on the antimicrobial potency of coconut oil are required for the use of coconut oil as an effective oral antimicrobial agent.