Toothaches

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Toothaches JoAnn Guest May 03, 2005 21:18 PDT

 

by Howie Brounstein

http://home.teleport.com/~howieb/treats/tooth.html

I have been plagued by many a toothache in my time. Although there is no

replacement for dental work and proper dental hygiene, once you have a

toothache, there are several herbal methods for treating it without

pharmaceuticals.

 

Herbs for a toothache are best taken in tincture form, because the

alcohol content is disinfecting and astringent, which helps with the

infection and to reduce inflammation. I suggest taking a teaspoon of the

tincture (undiluted) and holding it in your mouth, gently swishing it

through the problematic area for as long as possible. After that, you

can swallow the tincture, or spit it out, depending on the tincture.

 

There are two strategies for dealing with the toothaches:

 

1. Removing the Infection Which Causes the Pain

2. Relieving the Pain

Removing the Infection and Inflammation Causing the Pain

This is the best strategy for a toothache. If you simply put out the

fire within your tooth, then the pain will go away. However, this will

not cure your tooth problem. If you do not seek dental care, the

infection WILL eventually return. This sets you up for progressively

advancing dental problems. Cavities need to be filled; rotten, dead

teeth need to be removed.

 

If you do seek dental help and have an infection or abscess, the dentist

will not work on you until the infection is gone. She will prescribe an

antibiotic to fight the infection, and when it subsides, will proceed

with the dental work. Sometimes the dentist is unavailable until

Thursday, in which case you can get started on relieving the toothache

while you wait for an appointment. Some patients do not want to take

pharmaceuticals for a variety of reasons, and can use these herbs

instead. The following herbs can be very helpful in addition to or

instead of antibiotics.

 

A WORD OF CAUTION: An abscessed tooth, one where the swelling and

inflammation is progressing from your tooth to other parts of your face,

is life- threatening. It is not a time for self treatment.

 

Astringents:

 

An astringent wash can be very helpful as a first defense in the early

stages of a toothache. Astringents are antiseptic and help shrink

swollen tissue. Astringent washes can be used concurrently with

antibiotics and can be of some help in the maintenance of healthy gums.

I use this type of mouthwash every once in a while, even when my teeth

and gums are healthy. Do not swallow an astringent mouthwash, as this

can cause an upset stomach.

 

The standard herbal mouthwash astringent is Myrrh Gum. I personally do

not use this herb, because of my bioregional beliefs. There are so many

astringents available that I recommend using the herb you feel best

about. A standard British mouthwash herb is Garden Sage. My personal

favorite is White Sage, Salvia apiana. As an added benefit, the bitter

principles in the sage jump-starts my digestive system, helping me to

want to eat breakfast.

 

Astringents will not remove the pain directly, but they will help dampen

the fire within. Willow tincture may be the astringent of choice for

some toothaches, as it will act as an astringent and a topical analgesic

to relieve pain. Try a teaspoon as a wash, and then swallow the tincture

for an added system-wide analgesic effect.

 

Antibacterials:

 

An herb with a strong antibacterial effect both topically and

systemically is of great value for coping with the infections involved

with a toothache. My herbs of choice are the herbs that contain

berberine, such as Goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis, Goldthread, Coptis

spp., and Oregon Grape Root, Berberis spp. For ecological reasons, I

always use Oregon Grape. Three droppers to a teaspoon of tincture taken

three to four times a day, held in the mouth for as long as possible

around the affected area and then swallowed for a system wide effect, is

the best treatment for toothaches that I know of. I generally would not

mix berberine containing herbs with pharmaceutical antibiotics.

 

This reminds me of the time I was camping alone with my wife on a remote

island off the coast of Patagonia. My tooth started to ache, and the

willow I tried didn't help. Within a day, my tooth had abscessed, and

the area below the tooth on my neck began to swell. Certainly, I needed

dental attention, however, Juan the Boatman wasn't due back for days

yet. Luckily, I had my trusty Oregon Grape Root tincture on hand to help

with this. Immediately, the Berberis began to take effect, and within

the first 24 hours the swelling had all but subsided, although the pain

was still intense. Unfortunately, at this point I had ran out of my

tincture. I had given most of it to another traveler with an infection

before I had reached the island!

 

Fear not, brave readers, for I did not die that day, and still live to

tell this tale. One of the reasons that I was on the island was to

research the strength of the island's local Berberis. I had harvested

some native Berberis roots earlier that week and had immersed them in

some sort of Chilean alcohol. Although I didn't consider this a finished

tincture, it was all I had. Pouring some of the already golden yellow

medicine off the top of the soaking herb, I began to drink this elixir

of virtue. Ultimately I was healed, and continued my botanizing under

the Southern Cross.

Relieving the Pain

Pain relief is the band-aid treatment. To take analgesic herbs alone for

a toothache is to invite disaster. If they work, you won't feel the

fire, but the fire will continue to burn unnoticed in your jaw. This

could lead to further bone degradation, and life-threatening abscesses.

An abscessed tooth is no joke; many folks died from this before the

advent of modern dentistry.

 

Available herbs include:

 

Salicylate herbs - Barks of White Willow, Oak, Poplar, etc. Tinctures of

these herbs are also astringent, thus helping to relieve the

inflammation. Sometimes this is all you need to quell the fire of your

toothache if it is just starting and the inflammation is minimal.

 

Cow Parsnip Seed Tincture - 5 drops or so of this tincture can be very

helpful for relieving the pain of some toothaches, if the problem is

near surface.

 

Clove Oil - Pure clove oil can help with toothache pain, but unlike the

other herbs discussed, it can cause further irritation of the gums with

consistent use. I do not use oil of clove because, in the end, it can

make matters worse.

 

Drop Dosage Herbs: If the salicylates and Cow Parsnip Seed fail, there

are potentially toxic drop dosage herbs that are helpful, starting with

Bleeding Hearts, Dicentra formosa. These herbs can be deadly if not used

properly. I do not recommend them for self treatment unless you are an

experienced herbalist. Most strong pain medication is regulated by law

for good reasons; the strong pain killing herbs are just as dangerous.

On the stronger end of these types of herbs is Opium Tincture. Although

illegal in the USA, this would definitely take away the pain.

_________________

JoAnn Guest

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