Home Remedies For A Toothache

Why is it that we wait until we get to the point of excruciating pain that we yell “I wish I looked after my teeth“. It’s not until we are doubled over in agony from our toothache that we ever spare a thought for them. How often do we ever think about our teeth when we eat the sweet, delicious sticky treat? Not until we feel it later with a monsterous toothache.

If you can’t get to the dentist immediately then here are some home remedies for a toothache to tie you over until you can get an appointment.

Garlic

You can place a whole clove of garlic on the tooth for 30 minutes. If you’re able to apply pressure, bite down on the clove allowing some of the juice to release on the affected tooth providing a natural soothing anesthetic. Gives relief within 20 minutes.

Tea Bag

Place a standard teabag into a cup of water, place in the microwave for 1 minute. Remove the teabag while still warm and place on the sore tooth. Bite down gently and hold in place for 20 minutes or until you get pain relief. Substituting green tea also works well and has some extra healing properties of its own.

Hydrogen Peroxide

For pain relief using Hydrogen Peroxide, take a swig of 3% (food grade) Hydrogen Peroxide and swish around the mouth like mouth wash, spit it out and rinse thoroughly several times afterward with water. You can also add half a glass of Hydrogen Peroxide (3% food grade) to half a glass of water, swishing it around in your mouth for 30 seconds before spitting it out rinsing thoroughly with lukewarm salt water.

But the real key to permanent freedom of toothache pain is to prevent it from ever happening again.

This can be achieved through improved diet and dental hygiene. For example, change your toothbrush regularly, bristles tend to get quite worn and so don’t sweep the plaque properly from the gum line anymore. This is how Gingivitis sets in which eventually leads to periodontal disease and then tooth loss. Avoid the hard bristle toothbrushes. This type of toothbrush should be discontinued as the hard bristles accelerate gum recession by pulling the gums away from the teeth.

Floss, particularly before bed. This ensures that you minimize the amount of tooth eroding bacteria while you sleep. Make sure to get under the gum line as the bacteria that congregate there are responsible for abscesses and infection as well as gum recession leading to tooth loss.

If you have to snack in between meals make sure its fruit or vegetables. The most damage that you can do to your teeth is to have sugary snacks throughout the day, this allows the number of bacteria to grow exponentially.

Do you ever find that your teeth feel more fuzzy after a high sugar snack as opposed to eating say a piece of vegetable or fruit? This is because the bacteria snack and grow on whatever you feed it and foods with high sugar content provide excess energy for bacteria numbers to multiply.