What can you do in a pinch when you have a toothache?
Most people reach for age-old medicine-cabinet staples like Anbesol and Orajel, which contain benzocaine, an anesthetic, as their active ingredient. Benzocaine, like many other anesthetics, can cause allergic reactions and other side effects that some people find unpalatable.
But one natural alternative is clove oil, an essential oil from the clove plant, native to India and Indonesia and also known by the scientific but somewhat pleasant-sounding name Eugenia aromaticum. The essential oil has been shown in studies to have both analgesic and antibacterial properties, which can be particularly helpful in the case of a toothache instigated by bacteria.
Read more here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/remedies-clove-oil-for-tooth-pain/?partner=rss&emc=rss
