I have a toothache. My dentist can’t see me for a few weeks because of COVID. I made some clove oil. It helped. I didn’t think it would, but:

The Effect Of Clove And Benzocaine Versus Placebo As Topical Anesthetics, Journal of Dentistry, November 2006

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the natural herb clove can replace benzocaine as a topical anesthetic.

Topical agents were applied to the maxillary canine buccal mucosa of 73 adult volunteers. Four substances were tested in the study: (1) homemade clove gel, (2) benzocaine 20% gel, (3) placebo that resembles clove and (4) a placebo that resembled benzocaine. After 5 min of material application in a randomized, subject-blinded manner, each participant received two needle sticks. Pain response was registered using a 100 mm visual analogue pain scale.

Results: Both clove and benzocaine gels had significantly lower mean pain scores than placebos (p = 0.005). No significant difference was observed between clove and benzocaine regarding pain scores.

Their recipe:

The clove gel was prepared by grinding commercially available clove to fine powder and then mixing it with liquid glycerin in a ratio of 2:3 (clove: glycerin) by volume.

My recipe was about 15 whole cloves submerged in about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, in an old jelly jar.

How to Make Clove Oil, with photos.

How it works:

Clove oil contains the active ingredient eugenol, which is a natural anesthetic. It helps numb and reduce pain to ease a toothache. Eugenol also has natural anti-inflammatory properties. It may reduce swelling and irritation in the affected area. Dry Socket Paste, an over-the-counter treatment dentists recommend for teeth extraction pain, has eugenol.

A British study found that eugenol is more effective at reducing pain, inflammation, and infection than another type of analgesic. Study participants who used the eugenol-based paste also had better wound healing than study participants who used the other treatment or no treatment at all.

Thanks to Virginia.