Quick fix: toothache

And the best herb for toothache is ...

... yarrow root (Achillea millefolium).

Dig up a piece of root (the older brown roots are stronger than the younger white ones) and put about 5 cm of it in your mouth, on the achy side. Chew it up and let it sit there.

After about 15 minutes the ache is gone. So much so that you don't remember where it ached - left or right side? Oh, right, the piece of root is on the left side. Up or down, though? No idea, at all. You can spit out the root now.

The ache may or may not come back in an hour or three. If it does, chew up another piece of root. Rinse and repeat, until you can get an appointment with a dentist.

Toothaches have a tendency to turn up on a Friday evening, so you'll need enough root to get you over a weekend, in winter. In summer you can just dig fresh root, no trouble - there's yarrow everywhere. I keep a jar of 5 cm long dried root bits; you'll need perhaps 15-20 pieces per toothache per weekend.

Note, you should go to your dentist. Because a toothache might just be a bacterial infection under an old filling, and if so, that's a real risk of real septicaemia. If you leave things be, chances are that those bacteria will infest your kidneys (hello, dialysis) or your heart (ooops), sometime during the next few years. Believe me, a dentist is cheaper than the hospital bills for either of those.

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You've used cloves (Syzygium aromaticum), you say? They're much too strong, and can kill the nerves of a tooth. Believe me, you do not want dead nerves in otherwise healthy teeth.

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Related entries: Yarrow