Home Remedies for Toothache

Some how toothache strikes late in the night, or if there is an existing problem with the teeth, I have found it to intensify in the dead of night. I know this is not true, but this is how it appears when you or your child is crying in pain and there is no dentist available. There are many home remedies that can help reduce the pain, that are available at home. They give relief from the pain, and also reduce the swelling in many cases.

1. HERBS AND OTHERS

* Get a cotton ball and put some real vanilla extract on it. Apply it on the inflamed location, it numbs the pain.

* Take a half spoon of Asafetida and mix it with bit of lemon juice to make the paste of it. Make this paste luke warm and apply the mixture with help of cotton ball.

*Dip a cotton wool or a q-tip with a bit of alcohol, brandy or whisky, put on the aching tooth.

*Dip q- tips in baking soda and apply on the tooth and around it.

*Chew fresh guava leaves to help with the toothache naturally (these are easily available in warm countries).

*Chew fresh oregano leaves (it tastes horrible but works)

*Boil some mint leaves in one cup of water, sprinkle some salt, gargle and drink.

* Mix 2 to 3 drops of pure clove oil with 1/4 teaspoon olive oil. Saturate a cotton ball with the mixture and place the cotton ball beside the tooth.

* Apply a mixture of a pinch of pepper powder and a quarter teaspoon of common salt on the aching tooth

* Put a piece of onion between the gum and cheek at the affected area

2. WATER THERAPY

*Apply ice on the swollen or painful area

* Mix a heaping tablespoonful of activated charcoal powder with enough water to make a paste, apply it to a strip of gauze and bite down on the gauze, so that the paste presses around the painful tooth

3. ACCUPRESSURE

* To ease the throbbing pain, press an acupressure point located between the thumb and index finger's webbing on the hand that is on the same side as your toothache, hold it with your thumb on top of the webbing and your index finger underneath, then squeeze into the webbing, angling the pressure toward the bone that connects the index finger to the hand for one minute. This should not be tried by pregnant women as it can cause uterine contractions.

*Press the tip of each finger hard, one by one. The one that has nerve ends connected to the affected tooth will be painful when you apply pressure. Press it hard for one minute. This gives immediate relief.

All these remedies give relief from pain and in some cases reduce swelling too. But a dentist must be consulted at the earliest for proper treatment