Tooth Pain Relief
Suffering from tooth pain is never fun for anyone. If you are afflicted with a toothache, please call your dentist to set an appointment, especially if it is persistent, or prevents you from doing simple activities, like sleeping.
Cold Compress
Apply either a traditional icepack or fill a Ziploc bag with crushed ice and apply it to the outside of your mouth on the general area of the toothache. Do this for ten-minute intervals or as long as you can so that it is comfortable. This will numb the affected area and may decrease swelling if there happens to any.
Elevating Your Head
Blood can cause pressure against the affected area, if you keep your head elevated, you will be moving more blood away from your mouth. This can relieve some of the pressure and may make it slightly less of a stressful situation to deal with. This may not work with all toothaches, but it can definitely be a viable tactic.
Medicated Ointments
Certain gels and ointments have ingredients in them that can numb the affected area and decrease the pain. If you do use these gels, we highly recommend getting a professionals opinion on which gel you should use based on the toothache your experiencing.
If the gel is for a child, please contact a professional first, ingredients such as benzocaine are not suitable for children.
Do you have a toothache?
If one or more of your teeth are causing you pain, do not hesitate to call us.
Calling us is free!
Calling us is free!
Salt Water Rinse
Rinsing your mouth salt (not soap), is great for preventing infection, and potentially calming a stressful toothache. Salt also has antibacterial properties which can stave off infection and increase your oral health.
To properly rinse your mouth with salt do this:
- Fill an 8-ounce glass with water.
- Add a half-teaspoon of salt (no need to be exact, if you have experience cooking, just imagine a healthy “pinch or two”)
- Pour the solution into your mouth and swish it around for 30 seconds
- Spit the solution out afterward and rinse your mouth with normal water to get rid of any unpleasant after taste.
Hydrogen Peroxide Rinse
This 2016 study found rinsing your mouth food grade hydrogen peroxide mouthwash can help reduce plaque and symptoms of periodontitis.
Be careful when washing with hydrogen peroxide:
- Grab a small cup.
- Mix in a half and half (equal parts) solution of hydrogen peroxide and water
- Pour the mix into your mouth and swish it around for 30 sec, do not swallow the mix.
- Without swallowing any of the mix, spit it into the sink.
- Rinse your mouth with just water to get rid of any remaining solution.
- Finally, spit that into the sink as well, continue with your standard routine.
Garlic
Believe it or not, garlic is a traditional remedy that has been scientifically proven to have at least some efficacy on oral health care (recommend brushing your teeth after for the sake of your breath). The active ingredient is allicin which can be found in garlic cloves immediately after crushing them or cutting them.
If you have real garlic cloves, not garlic powder, you treat your toothache with these steps:
Method 1 – Chew it
Using the affected tooth:
- Gently chew on the unbroken garlic clove (this releases allicin which is antibacterial).
- Allow the chewed cloves to rest on the tooth for 30 sec to 1 minute.
- Brush with toothpaste, or rinse with mouthwash to get rid of any unpleasant taste.
Method 2 – Make a paste
- Grab any size dinner spoon.
- Using the back of the spoon, crush the garlic.
- Optionally mix the salt into the paste for extra antibacterial properties.
- Immediately after crushing the garlic, use your fingers and gently apply the past to your affected tooth.
The allicin is only active after crushing the garlic cloves for a very short time. We recommend completing all the steps in as little time as is safely possible. If you have paste leftover you can always cook with it if you used a clean container and kept it off any dirty surfaces. Keeping it for leftovers to use on your tooth later will be useless as the allicin will have long since broken down.
frequently asked questions on Tooth Pain Relief
Toothaches can be caused by:
- Tooth decay.
- Abscessed tooth (a bacterial infection inside the center of the tooth).
- Tooth fracture (broken tooth).
- A damaged filling.
- Repetitive motions, such as chewing gum or grinding or clenching teeth.
- These motions can wear down your teeth.
- Infected gums.
- Eruption (teeth coming out of the gums) or removal of a tooth (for example, wisdom teeth).
It can go away on its own, however, if your toothache is disruptive, or lasts more than 2-3 days please call a dentist.
Brushing, flossing, and rinsing with mouthwash 2-3 times daily. Often toothaches are caused by food stuck in the gum, brushing alone is not enough to get these particles out. Having good flossing technique is crucial.
