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Are you a Do-it-yourselfer? Do you fix the car or do your own remodeling and painting? That’s great if you do! But should you ever apply your DIY skills when it comes to a toothache?

Well, as dental professionals at Southeast Family Dental, you might be surprised at what we tell you.

Toothaches have a variety of causes. It’s not always just a cavity. And if it is a child that is suffering with tooth pain, relief is the only acceptable answer to them. While determining the exact cause of the toothache and the treatment to remedy the problem is best left to a dentist, temporary relief may be found with this home remedy:

Combine 1/2 teaspoon of clove powder with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil. Clove contains eugenol, which relieves pain and the coconut oil has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties to fight infection.

Mix the two ingredients into a thick paste and use a cotton swab to apply the paste on the area that aches. This can be done several times a day.

A trip to the dentist is still recommended

This home remedy may be sufficient to alleviate the pain until you can get into the dentist’s office. Of course, if there is an emergency, we suggest you contact us at our office and leave a message. One of the Southeast Family Dental dentists will promptly return your call.

This recipe for relief above is made from natural ingredients and will not harm you or the tooth, which is good news. Neither of the two ingredients will penetrate the tooth. It will probably help with gum pain, but it would have to get to the nerve deep in the tooth to reduce the inflammation and completely eliminate the pain. The only way that can happen is if there is a hole in the tooth.

The bad news is that it will not fix the problem. Nor will it alleviate major pain caused by something like an abscessed tooth. A toothache is an indication that something is wrong and needs to be addressed. When our patients are in pain, we want to know that when they call for an appointment. We know it hurts and do our best to get patients in as soon as possible for restorative care that eliminates the pain.

Most of the time our dentists can see that a problem is on the horizon during preventive care visits and we always express our concerns to our patients or the parents of our patients who are children. But sometimes things come up suddenly and a little DIY remedy wouldn’t hurt. It might make it bearable for a little while until you can get the professional care you need.