A toothache varies, and many of us will suffer the degrees of pain throughout our life. In the majority of cases, we’ll have this mild, annoying pain. It could be while brushing our teeth or temporarily when drinking hot or cold liquids.
However, there are times that the pain is excruciating. All we want to do is find a way to make it stop, even if it means ripping the tooth out of our mouths ourselves.
We don’t need to go to such extremes when it comes to treating toothache! It also doesn’t necessarily mean a trip to an expensive emergency dentist. There are other steps that you can take to keep the pain to a minimum until you can seek treatment from your regular dentist—the person that you trust to make the pain go away and protect the health of your teeth.
Here’s a look at all you need to know about a treating toothache at home. You’ll be surprised at the home remedies available.
Why Is the Pain So Bad?
We get a toothache for all sorts of reasons. Having sensitive teeth doesn’t necessarily mean a problem. We just have roots that are a little more exposed than they should be, so hot and cold elements on the teeth will affect them more often than usual.
However, there are other reasons for pain. Tooth decay and cavities are common. If you have a cavity that has been filled, you may find that the filling is degrading and needs replacing. Infections and loose teeth are also common reasons for pain.
The more serious the problem, the worse your pain is likely to be. This is especially the case when it comes to infections and tooth decay. If the decay gets to the root, then you will have the most pain since the nerves are being directly affected. Exposed roots cause some of the most intense pain, which is common when teeth are cracked or chipped.
Of course, teeth cutting through the gums can also cause pain. Those who have lower wisdom teeth cutting through tend to have more pain than any other tooth cutting through. The pain can shoot down the jaw and into the throat, making it extremely difficult to chew and swallow.
So, what can you do to help get rid or at least manage the tooth pain? While pain medication is an option, here are some home remedies that will help.
Use Toothpaste for Your Sensitive Teeth
If you get mild irritating pain throughout the day because of sensitive teeth, you need to think about the toothpaste you’re using. Sensitivity is the most common reason for niggling pain, and manufacturers have already created products for it.
Toothpaste comes in “for sensitive teeth” recipes. If you get one, try it for a few weeks and see how the pain subsides.
Don’t want to put chemicals on your teeth? Worried about it just being a marketing ploy?
You can make your own toothpaste for sensitivity. Mix some baking soda and water to create a paste. Add a few drops of vanilla extract. The numbing agent within the vanilla will help to ease the pain, while the baking soda cleans your teeth. If you want to add salt, that will help to remove the bacteria from your teeth!
Use a Salt Wash Twice a Day
Let’s start with the salt wash or rinse. This is one of the most effective tips for helping to reduce pain, inflammation, and infection. The salt is the active part of this rinse and will fight against infection and tooth decay in the mouth. While you can’t completely stop the tooth decay, the salt will help to reduce the progression of it.
You should use a salt wash on a daily or twice a day basis. This is much more effective than those antibacterial mouthwashes that you can get in the store. Bacteria in the mouth has started to become resistant to the antibacterial properties in mouthwashes, just like they have with antibacterial medication. Just swish it around your mouth and gargle at the back of the throat to get rid of any bacteria there.
Try adding a little pepper to your salt rinse for some extra help. The pepper can help to reduce inflammation in the mouth, which is excellent when your pain is linked to swollen gums, infection, or cutting teeth.
You don’t just have to create mouthwash with your salt and pepper. Add a little water to make them into a paste and apply directly to the affected and painful area. This helps the two ingredients work together and fight the exact infection.
Apply Crushed Garlic on the Painful Area
Garlic is another ingredient that has natural antibiotic, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties. In fact, it has so many medicinal properties that it is highly recommended for the majority of natural cures available.
Of course, garlic doesn’t smell that great. This isn’t going to be something you want to apply directly before going out. Try to find a time in the day when you will have time for your body to lessen the smell, such as before you go to bed at night. The great news is that you only need to apply this once a day for a few days until the pain has gone.
Add the garlic to water and make it into a paste. You can also add some salt for more antibacterial properties in your home remedy.
If you don’t want to waste time with the paste, why not just chew cloves of garlic instead? Chew on the side that it hurts if this is comfortable for you. This is also something that you can do with cloves if you would prefer the taste!
Onion is another ingredient to consider chewing raw on a daily basis. Spend the night while watching TV chewing on the onion to get the antibacterial and antifungal properties. You’ll also find that you’re not that hungry for snacks, so you lose weight at the same time!
Numb With Some Peppermint Tea
Peppermint tea is known for having numbing power. This is only temporary, but it could be temporary enough to help at least you get some sleep on a night and give you some relief during the day. It’s not a guaranteed way to get rid of serious toothache but can reduce it enough to help you get through the days to make it to a regular dentist appointment.
Peppermint tea has other health benefits too. Even if it doesn’t completely numb the pain, it will be beneficial in the long term.
You’ll only need a teaspoon of peppermint leaves in your cup of boiling water to make this work. If you don’t have peppermint leaves, you can use peppermint tea bags, but they’re not quite as effective.
Now it’s up to you if you want to drink the tea or use it as a wash. Some people will allow the tea to cool and use it as mouthwash daily. I prefer to drink mine! I’ll get the relaxing benefits of the hot liquid as well as the numbing agent.
If you really like the smell of peppermint but not the taste, you can try burning some peppermint oil in a diffuser or add it to your bath water. The oil burning has been known to help ease headaches, but the jury is still out when it comes to a toothache.
Normal black tea has also been linked to reducing pain. This is especially the case if your toothache is linked to inflammation. The black tea reduces inflammation and helps to keep some of the pressure off the nerves. You don’t even need to drink the tea! Just place the warm teabag onto your tooth to help relieve the pain directly.
Okay, so this is another that may not be the tastiest of methods, but it works. Surely that’s worth it, right?
Apply Ice to the Affected Area
Ice is a powerful way to numb the area and reduce the swelling. You can get the pressure on the nerves and stop them being able to send pain through your body at the same time.
While the ice won’t help to treat the reason for the pain, you can at least manage your pain. It could be just enough to get you to sleep or make it through to your dentist appointment.
Applying ice directly to your teeth can be dangerous. You could have sensitivity pain or end up chipping or cracking your teeth on the ice accidentally. It’s best to wrap some ice cubes up in a tea towel and place on your face. Pop, it on the side where the pain is like you would with pain in any other part of your body.
Use Vanilla Extract Directly on the Area
You likely have vanilla extract in the house for your cooking. If you don’t, it’s easy and affordable to buy. If you don’t have extract, you may actually have an essential oil in the house. This is just as good.
It’s the vanilla that you really want. This has the numbing agent in it. It’s not the most powerful, but it is effective when applied directly to the area that is causing you the most pain.
Pop some of the vanilla extracts onto a cotton swab and then rub it over the tooth or infected gum area that is causing the pain. The benefit of the swab is that it’s small enough to get right to the back of your mouth. Make sure your swab is a clean and fresh one from the packet! The last thing you want is to add more bacteria or elements to the infected and painful area.
Repeat this a few times a day. The numbing agent will wear off over time.
Numb the Area with Alcohol
A small amount of alcohol has always been used for a curing toothache, and it is certainly effective. You may have even heard your parents tell you that they used to put a drop of whiskey in your baby bottle to help you sleep through the teething stage! Yes, that really happened!
Don’t use it on babies, but you could use it on yourself. You just need a small amount to rub on the affected area. The alcohol works to numb rather than treat the pain and will help you at least get to sleep on a night.
This is not an excuse to drink the whole bottle of whiskey! You really just need a couple of drops rubbed directly on the painful tooth or gum.
Distract and Release Happy Hormones with Pressure
It’s time to get your brain to release the happy and pain-killer hormones. You don’t need to exercise or run a relaxing bath, and you can do it all at your desk at work. It’s all about applying pressure!
Push on the area at your base of your thumb, where it meets your index finger. There’s a pressure point in here that tells your brain to start releasing the feel-good hormones. These feel good hormones include the body’s natural painkiller, so you don’t feel the pain in your body anymore. It’s a trick that’s used for headaches, chronic pain, and much more.
Applying the pressure will also distract you from the pain in your tooth. You push your mind onto doing something about it rather than sitting and waiting for a dentist appointment.
This is also a trick that you can use with all the other toothache fighting tips already mentioned above!
Use Gum to Cover a Crack
This is definitely just a temporary measure. If you have a loose filling or cracked tooth, you may get extreme pain throughout the day. You want to get air and any food away from the nerves that are now exposed, which means finding something to cover the area while you wait for your dentist appointment.
Try softened gum. It can help just to cover the area and you can quickly remove it before your appointment. Make sure it is sugar-free gum to avoid doing extra damage to your teeth.
This is more of a last-ditch attempt to fight off the pain for just a day or so.
Don’t Forget Your Dentist Appointment
It seems silly to say, but there are so many people who avoid the dentist. You need to book a dentist appointment when you have pain because it is a sign that there is another problem. It could be serious enough to need further treatment or tooth extraction.
The only time you can use some of them on a daily basis is if you have naturally sensitive teeth. If there isn’t a more serious reason for the sensitivity, the tips above can just help manage the mild and annoying pain.
The remedies above are temporary home ones that you can apply on a daily basis. They’re there to help numb the pain and get you through the days until your appointment. These tips are not to help prevent a visit completely.
When you get pain, contact your dentist and book your appointment. Go through the above tips and just get yourself through the next few days.
