Have Toothache? Use Clove Oil

For centuries, clove oil has been used for providing relief for toothaches. Roman, Greeks and the Chinese used Clove oil as a breath sweetener and to ease toothaches. Having a characteristic smell, clove oil (Syzygium aromaticum) has properties to soothe tooth pain. In addition, it has antiseptic, antifungal, and anti-bacterial properties and has been widely used to prevent oral diseases such as plaque and mouth ulcers. Flower buds of the clove plant yield clove pure essential oil. Clove is cultivated in most of the tropical regions of the world.

For a long time, Clove oil mixed with Zinc oxide has been used by dentists as white temporary filling material to sooth and calm tooth pain. The temporary filling is used to calm down the pain till a permanent filling takes its place.

Toothaches are generally caused by tooth or jaw problems such as dental cavities, an exposed tooth root, cracked tooth, or a gum disease. In case you have toothache, you can buy a bottle of clove oil from a pharmacy. Most pharmacies sell small bottles of the oil (Clove oil is also called ‘Eugenol’).

To calm down a toothache, you can rub the oil directly on the affected area using a cotton ball dipped in clove oil. Alternatively, you can place a small piece of cotton soaked in clove oil into the tooth cavity. This provides temporary toothache relief, which is effective for duration of 60 to 90 minutes. If pain still persists, replace the old cotton ball with another one soaked with clove oil. Clove oil is very strong when undiluted. So it is recommended to mix the clove oil with small amount of olive oil before applying it on the affected area.

Warning: Clove oil not to be used during pregnancy, on babies and on small children.