How to Ease a Toothache

Steps

1. Make an appointment with a dentist. Chances are you can't cure the tooth problem at home.
2. Buy some clove bud and cotton swabs. It can be found at most herb shops. It comes in a small vial with a tiny dropper built in. Wal-Mart and big pharmacy chains don't carry it. If you cannot find it, buy clove at the local grocery store. It's not as concentrated so it's not nearly as effective but it works.
3. Buy some Listerine - not the minty watered down kind.
4. Apply a few drops of clove bud on the cotton swabs. Apply it directly to the area that hurts as well as around it. Toothache pain is often displaced, making it seem like it is coming from somewhere it's not. Only a few drops of clove bud are needed. It may burn. That's normal since it deadens nerve endings by overpowering them. The burning lasts for less than a minute and is not as bad as the toothache.
5. Take a sip of the Listerine and hold it in the affected region for two minutes. This will burn but it will work and is worth it. Listerine will usually have to be reapplied every 1/2 hour to an hour.

Tips

• There is a retail product called First Aid that has clove bud in it. This can be used as well.
• Brushing to remove any debris and plaque from the affected area before treatment is recommended for best results.
• Usually this will finish off the toothache for at least an hour and possibly a whole day.
• Other treatments that I have not had much success with are: use menthol, apply vanilla, or rinse with salt water.
• If you have an abscess the above will work as well. Abscesses are also treatable with over the counter pain medication (usually). And if you have the nerve for it, popping an abscess will normally relieve the pain.
• Cinnamon is very helpful for toothaches, I dont know what it does, but it helps the pain.
• Rinsing aching area with baking soda dissolved in warm boiled water helps (possibly because soda is a base, which means it neutralizes acids - primary enamel destroyers). In fact it helped me this morning. Salty water should help in preventing infection. So rinsing mouth with baking soda *AND* salt dissolved in warm boiled water is double beneficial.
• Use some good Irish whiskey or Scotch to numb the area until you can get to a dentist.
• Take a pain-killer.
• Redirect the pain signals by rubbing ice on the back of your hand, between your index and thumb (in the web between the two spread fingers).
• Go to a dentist and get the tooth checked.

Warnings

• Using clove bud several times a day for months *may* cause permanent nerve damage. So if the pain lasts longer than a week, see a dentist.
• Never consume alcohol while you're using pain-killers.