Bet you never expected to see a dentist recommend home remedies for tooth pain. In general, dentists don’t recommend home remedies as people often decide that they can ignore issues that need a dental professional to address the problem.
In the case of an emergency, like a knocked-out tooth, you need to see our dentist immediately. But if you have a dental appointment coming up but are struggling with tooth pain in the meanwhile, then here are some of the home solutions for tooth pain your local Billings, MT, dentist, recommends you try.
Top Natural Home Remedies For Tooth Pain
One of the benefits of using a home remedy is that you should be able to find most of the remedies in your cupboards. You don’t need to try all of these tooth pain home remedies, but as you read through the top natural home remedies, pick out which you want to try and give them some time to work before trying another.
Cold Pack
To help constrict the blood vessels near the site of your tooth pain—which will help reduce your inflammation and pain—you can use a towel-wrapped cold pack. Hold the pack to the area of your jaw where the tooth pain is located and keep it in place for no more than 20 minutes.
It is best not to exceed 20 minutes, at which point, the coldness can become painful against your skin. After using the cold pack, wait a few hours before resorting to it again. If the pain returns before that time, try another pain remedy.
Vanilla Extract
As an antioxidant, vanilla extract is a natural option to help with tooth pain. Also, it contains alcohol, which can help numb the affected area. All you have to do to apply vanilla extract is dab a bit on a Q-tip, a cotton ball, or just on your fingertip and apply it to the area of your gums where your tooth pain is coming from.
Salt Water Rinse
An easy natural remedy to tooth pain you can try is rinsing with a salt water mixture. Using ½ a teaspoon of salt in a glass of water will dilute the salt enough to be used as a mouthwash. For extra soothing properties, you can use warm water.
Rinsing with salt water can help remove any stuck particles and loosen any debris that can become trapped between teeth. As the salt water rinse works, it will naturally disinfect, helping to treat any oral wounds you may have and calm painful inflammation.
Peppermint Tea Bags
You can also use a used peppermint tea bag to help reduce the sensitivity of your gums and numb your tooth pain. The bag should be still a bit warm, but not enough to burn, as you apply it to the affected area of your mouth.
And, naturally, you can also just make a cup of peppermint tea, use the tea bag against your gums, then enjoy the tea. While the peppermint properties will be diluted by the water, the warmth and remaining peppermint can help continue to soothe your tooth pain.
Guava Leaves
A natural anti-inflammatory, guava leaves can take down painful oral swelling. These leaves also have antimicrobial properties, which can help as you manage your dental pain. You can use guava leaves by simply chewing on them, or you can crush them—releasing the healing properties—and boil the leaves to create an effective mouthwash.
Garlic
Acting as a pain reliever, garlic can also help kill the kinds of oral bacteria that cause dental plaque, which can help you at your next dental cleaning at our clinic! You can chew on a fresh garlic clove, or mash a clove into a paste and apply it to the area of your gums where your teeth are hurting.
Hydrogen Peroxide Rinse
Another rinse you can try to help with tooth pain is a hydrogen peroxide rinse. This rinse can help with bleeding gums, kill harmful oral bacteria, alleviate pain, reduce inflammation, and assist in the reduction of dental plaque.
The hydrogen peroxide needs to be diluted and make sure you do not swallow it. Use equal amounts of water with 3% hydrogen peroxide, then you can use this mixture as a mouthwash.
Clove
Cloves—or, more specifically, clove oil—has been used as a way to manage toothaches as it can help reduce gum inflammation and numb tooth pain. It is also a natural antiseptic since it contains eugenol.
Like with the vanilla extract, you can dab some clove oil on a fingertip or Q-tip and apply it to the area of your mouth that is in pain. You can dilute the oil with a couple of drops of water or coconut oil as a carrier oil.
Again, these home remedies for tooth pain should be used as a stop-gap measure until you are able to come in for your dental appointment. It is important that you have your tooth pain addressed with the right dental services and don’t try to treat it with home remedies alone.
Take Care Of Tooth Pain With Billings, MT, Dentist
Tooth pain is a clear indicator that there is an issue with your teeth. Rather than leaving the problem to become worse, it is essential that you tackle your tooth pain as soon as possible.
To schedule your dental appointment to take care of your tooth pain properly, please contact us today. We will do our best to get you in and out of pain as soon as possible.