Zen-Haven February 19 2013

Here’s the deal. It’s the weekend (or, like me, you are on vacation in the middle of the ocean) and your tooth starts to hurt.

The pain has become so bad you can not eat, can not concentrate and whoa! you can not even enjoy yourself and have fun. What’s a gal or guy to do?

Let me let you in on a secret: you can temporarily mitigate the pain and suffering with oil of clove, an inexpensive and readily available essential oil. Here is what you do:

Put a few drops of clove oil on a cotton ball, place the ball on your sore tooth and bite down. Keep you mouth shut for about 5 minutes as the oil numbs the pain and kills the bacteria.

Afterward, remove the cotton ball and mix a bit of the clove oil (6 to 8 drops will do it), water, and salt into a cup. Swish this around in your mouth for about a minute and spit out. You should feel a whole lot better!

Note: Undiluted clove oil can cause burning and even nerve damage, so be sure to dilute it if you are applying it to sensitive skin tissue. You can still use it directly on a tooth by applying it to a cotton ball or cotton swab first.

So back to my little episode on the ship. Turns out I needed a root canal (which by the way, these days is a piece of cake except for the pain to the wallet). The dentist had one word of advice for me: when in pain, use clove oil. As as matter of fact, he told me that it was a bit of clove oil on a cotton swab that provided preliminary numbing prior to my procedure.

History of Cloves

The use of clove dates back to the Han dynasty (207B.C to 220 A.D.) where it was used to hide bad breath. It was required that those who approached the Chinese emperor hold a clove in their mouth for this purpose. Over the years, traditional Chinese medicine has used cloves to treat indigestion, diarrhea, hernias, ringworm and also athletes foot and other fungal infections.

Cloves arrived in Europe in the 4th century A.D. They were considered a luxury and were used as a part of a mixture it was used to treat gout. Once cloves became readily available in Europe, they were used in a manner similar to traditional Chinese medicine. Europeans used cloves to treat indigestion, flatulence, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. It also treated cough, infertility, warts, worms, wounds and toothaches.

In America, cloves have been used to treat digestive disorders and have been used in bitter herb medicine preparations to make them more tasteful.

Factoid: Americans were the first to extract the oil from the clove and it was used on gums to relieve toothaches.

The active component of cloves is eugenol oil. This oil makes up 60-90% of each clove and has long been thought to kill bacteria, viruses and fungi. This oil also acts as an antiseptic, anesthetic, digestive stimulant expectorant, aromatic, antispasmodic, astringent and accounts for its various uses.

Proven Uses of Cloves and Clove Oil

Instant air freshener: Make an atomizer in a spray bottle mixing clove oil with water. Be sure to shake well before each use as oil and water do not stay mixed. If your household is smelling especially bad or is really stale, simmer some cloves, cinnamon and orange peel on the stove for awhile – the smell will be heavenly.

Got Doggie Destructo? You can discourage puppy chewing by dabbing the most likely targets (wood moldings, your slippers) with a bit of clove oil. One sniff and one taste and your pup will move on to something else – hopefully his dog food or doggie toys (try KONG toys – they are great).

Non-toxic Insect Repellent: Did you know that many insect repellent companies use Clove essential oil as one of the active ingredients in their spray products? If you have some clove leaves or oils, you can simply use these instead of spending money on bug spray. Another thing you can do is plant cloves around the perimeter of your yard to replace the number of bugs that cross into your yard. You can also put some of the oils on your body so bugs and mosquitoes won’t come near you.

What else? Are there other benefits to cloves and clove oils?

As much as I tried, I could only find anecdotal information about the benefits of cloves. There seems to be little or no scientific research into the medicinal uses of cloves which frankly, I find baffling given the huge sums that are devoted to the research of toxic pharmacy products.

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