I am proud to say that I have all my own teeth at the age of 65. While that may not sound unusual to some people, everyone in my family who is my age or older wears dentures. I always tell people that that flossing is the key to good dental health. I have arthritis in my hands, but I don't let it keep me from flossing every day. My trick is to use those little "flossers" you can buy at the drug store. They have plastic handles floss stretched out on top of the handle. These make flossing easier on days when my arthritis is acting up. I started this blog to let other people know that they can keep their teeth healthy into old age when they take care of them. If you have hand pain, find ways to make flossing easier, like I did.
Don't Let Hand Pain Keep You from Flossing
3 Effective Home Toothache Remedies For Temporary Relief
Francis Miles
Many people find a toothache to be one of the most painful conditions out there. Toothaches are often worse than the pain that accompanies another infection because there are so many nerves in your mouth, and because the infection has nowhere to go. There are no home remedies that can completely cure a toothache, unfortunately. You will have to go to the dentist for antibiotics, and possibly for root canal therapy or extraction in order to permanently fix the problem. However, you can temporarily relieve a toothache while you're waiting for a dentist appointment with one of these natural remedies.
Clove Oil Compress
Cloves have been used to treat tooth pain for a long time – before modern dental techniques, even dentists used it as an anesthetic in the office. Cloves contain a powerful pain reliever called eugenol that has antiseptic and antibacterial properties. Cloves add a tasty flavor to many foods, so you may already have some in your kitchen. It comes in oil form, powder form, and in the form of whole cloves.
Clove oil is the most effective form to use if you want to relieve pain. Rinse your mouth out with water, saturate a cotton ball in the oil, and hold it against the tooth or part of the gum that's causing the most pain. It will numb your mouth and provide quick relief.
If you only have powder or whole cloves, you can use those in a pinch. Take a small amount of clove powder in your fingers and put it between your cheek or lip and the affected tooth. Once your saliva moistens it, you should feel some relief. If you only have whole cloves, you can hold them in your mouth the same way that you would hold the powder. This will take longer, because you'll have to wait for them to soften before you'll feel the effects. If you can, chew them slightly to release the oils.
Ginger-Cayenne Paste
Another method for temporarily relieving tooth pain is to make a paste out of ground ginger and ground cayenne pepper. Add an equal amount of both powders to a small bowl, then slowly stir in small amounts of water until the powder mixture reaches a pasty consistency. Roll a cotton ball in the paste and apply it to the affected area until the pain subsides.
This works because the cayenne pepper contains capsaicin – it's the chemical component that makes the pepper spice, but it also works to block pain messages that your brain sends. The ginger reduces the number of cytokines in the area. Cytokines are immune-regulating substances that cause inflammation, which is a major reason why toothaches are painful.
Keep in mind that the combination of these two powerful spices is liable to cause a burning sensation in your mouth. It's not dangerous, and it's usually preferable to toothache pain, but if you're particularly sensitive to spicy foods, you may want to try just the ginger or just the cayenne alone.
Hydrogen Peroxide
If you have a fever or a bad taste in your mouth to go along with the toothache, you may want to try rinsing your mouth out with hydrogen peroxide. The fever and bad taste are both signs of a bacterial infection, and the peroxide will help by killing off some of the bacteria while providing some relief from the pain. It's not a cure – you will still need antibiotics to get rid of the infection entirely. But rinsing with peroxide will at least help you get a head start on curing the infection.
The peroxide rinse will be most effective if you can use it by itself – just swish it around in your mouth, focusing on the infected area. However, if you can't stand the taste, you can add a little bit of water to make holding the liquid in your mouth a little easier. Peroxide is safe to use for toothache, but as an oral rinse only, so don't swallow it.
The most important thing that you can do for a toothache is call your dentist and set up an appointment to be seen. Your dentist understands that toothaches can be very debilitating, so you shouldn't have to wait long. Ask for a same day appointment, look at sites like http://www.cretzmeyer.com, or get a referral to an emergency dental care clinic, so that you can get started healing as soon as possible.
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