I want this post to be very informative and very helpful to all of my friends and family. I want to talk to you about home remedies for toothache pain. There are some important things that you need to know, and this past week/weekend has given me a lot of experience and I have a lot of advice for you!
Okay, when you first start to experience dental pain, you have a short window of opportunity to decide whether or not the pain warrants a trip to the family dentist or not. Some things to consider are what day of the week is it? Some dental offices can not see you right away, especially if you are not an established patient. If you are an established patient, you will already have a leg up because dental offices are generally good to their established patients. Also, just how bad is the pain? Is it a sensitivity or is it actual pain. Don't dilly-dally! Make that appt!
Okay, if you are near a weekend and the dental office can't see you until the next week, you are going to be in some inevitable pain, so there are some things to think about. If you have tooth pain and it is GREAT, there is a great chance that you have an infection. A lot of dental offices are not able to fix yout tooth until you have been on antibiotics for a day or two, so you might want to consider going to an urgent care center so you can get started on your antibiotics and get some pain medicine if necessary.
Here are some awesome home remedies to try until you can be seen for your appointment:
Salt Water: Mix a heaping spoonful of salt in a small glass of lukewarm to warm water, swoosh around inside your mouth for as long as you can, spit out. Repeat a couple times.
Cloves: Rest a clove against the sore area until pain goes away. You can also use a drop or two of clove oil (too much can be toxic) on a cotton swab and hold against the tooth
Alcohol: Swoosh a bit of whiskey, scotch, brandy or vodka. A strong mouthwash that contains alcohol will do the trick too.
Hydrogen Peroxide: Swoosh a bit of hydrogen peroxide. Try diluting with a bit of water.
Vanilla Extract: Saturate a cotton ball with vanilla and hold in place. Can also use a cotton swab dipped in extract.
Almond Extract: Same method of treatment as with Vanilla (above).
Peppermint Extract: Same as with Vanilla (above).
Tea Tree Oil: Just a drop or two will do the trick. You can also add some to a cotton swab and hold in place or add a few drops of tea tree oil to a small glass of lukewarm to warm water and swoosh this around.
Oil Of Oregano: Mix a few drops with a bit of olive oil, then saturate a cotton ball with mixture. Can replace the olive oil with lukewarm water if preferred.
Apple Cider Vinegar: Soak a cotton ball with apple cider vinegar (ACV) and hold it in place. Can also try regular household vinegar.
Ginger Root: Take a fresh piece of ginger and chew it a bit.
Garlic: Take a clove of garlic, smash it and apply (settle it inside cheek). You can also mash some garlic with salt.
Onion: Slice a piece of fresh onion and hold it inside your mouth. The onion needs to be freshly cut (so it provides a bit of onion juice).
Cayenne Pepper: Make a paste with cayenne pepper and water.
Black Pepper: You can use this full strength or make a mix of pepper and salt.
Baking Soda: Take a cotton swab and moisten it with a bit of water, dip it in baking soda (coat the swab really well with baking soda) then apply. You can also make a mouth rinse by mixing a heaping spoonful of baking soda in a small glass of lukewarm to warm water, dissolve the soda then swish the mixture in your mouth.
Ice Pack: Cover an ice pack with a face cloth or towel then hold over your cheek where the problem is. This will help numb things. If that doesn’t work, try the opposite–a hot compress (not too hot that it burns your skin).
There are many, many websites out there and information out there that can help. I personally tried all of the remedies above. Unfortunately, my infection was so bad that the remedies only lasted for a couple of minutes and the pain was then greater than ever. The one thing that helped when ALL ELSE FAILED was Ice Water. For 18 hours I had to swig a little bit of icewater and swish it over the infected tooth. As long as I did this constantly, the pain was somewhat alleviated. One word of advice, don't drink all of that water that you are swishing...if you do, you will find yourself vomiting at 5 in the morning because you are drinking too much water.
Keep in mind that home remedies are not cures. They are just ways to help alleviate the pain until you can see the dentist.
I hope some of this information helps, and may the Lord
bless you to feel better soon if you are in pain with a toothache!
