Tooth Abscess
Health Benefits

Cloves for Toothaches and Tooth Abscess

| Modified on Mar 05, 2024
There is never a convenient time for a terrible, throbbing tooth ache, but it seems that it's most likely to happen over the weekend or during a holiday. The cure could be as close as your kitchen or bathroom cabinet - whole cloves or clove oil! Cloves are a safe, natural home remedy that will relieve toothaches. It's best to begin the treatment as soon as possible, especially if the tooth has abscessed.

Using Clove Oil to Treat an Abscess

Clove oil is a home remedy for tooth pain that is also used by dentists; it is a natural analgesic and antiseptic, primarily because of a component known as eugenol. Cloves or clove oil fight infection and numb the area, decreasing pain.

How to Use Clove Oil for an Abscessed Tooth

  • Put a drop or two of the oil on a piece of gauze or cotton swab and wipe onto the affected area. Usually relief is felt within minutes.
  • Because clove oil is very strong, for sensitive individuals it is best to add 2 drops of clove oil to one teaspoon of coconut oil and then apply the oil mixture to the affected area.

How to Use Whole Cloves for an Abscessed Tooth

  • Place a whole clove in your mouth.
  • Chew the clove and move the smashed clove as close to the sore tooth as possible.
  • Hold the clove in place until the area is numb.

Let us know if you've tried cloves or clove oil for an abscess. Continue reading below for reviews from our readers who tried this inexpensive natural cure for toothache pain and abscesses.

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15 User Reviews


Posted by Elizabeth (Montreal, Canada) on 04/08/2023
★★★★★

I have had several abscessed on one tooth. After seeing a naturopath for a parasite in my liver (gluten intolerance), I felt all tooth and jaw inflammation desist, leaving me with with is hopefully strictly a minor gum infection that has pussed a few times.

Currently I'm using salt rinses and cloves. Dosage: soak one clove along the infected gum line until it's a bit softer -about 10 to 15 mins-, which will release the oils. WARNING: Ca brule, en maudite!! It's quite a hot oil and burns where it lay. Confessionally I did not experience the burn on the inflammation portion AT ALL. I only felt the burn on the healthy skins. The inflamed area was totally accepting of the burning oil like it wasn't burning.

Outside regular cleaning, I've been using a salt wash and cloves about 4 times a day for about 4 days, and I'll shift to another natural antibiotic next week, such as garlic or olive Leaf Oil, as I understand bacteria acclimatise to antibiotics.


Cloves
Posted by Arlene B. (United States) on 06/23/2019
★★★★★

Cloves for tooth pain oh thank you ..took clove powder out of spice cabinet ..just packed it in and around cavity ..instant relief thanks so much!


Cloves
Posted by Thomas (10247 Berlin) on 01/01/2018
★★★★★

Whole cloves have helped against any pain and inflammation in my mouth, be it aphths, wisdom tooth inflammation or abscess. Whole cloves have a retarding effect, which clove oil does not have. Clove oil is initially too strong, and wears off too soon.


Cloves
Posted by Phillip (Ottawa, Ontario) on 08/29/2016
★★★★★

Whenever I have any kind of pain on my tooth or gums, I do hot saltwater mouth gargle & rinse. Also put Clove oil on Q Tip & put on painful gums this numbs the pain & kills infection you can google it. You can also add a little water in a glass plus a few drops of clove oil and do a mouth rinse.

I always take calcium & vitamin D capsules as well as Garlic capsules & Fish Oil.

Of course you avoid all sugary foods when you have gum or toothache.

I think clove oil is wonderful & saves your tooth. But do it everyday for 10 days to be sure infection is gone.


Cloves
Posted by Susan9k (South Dakota, USA) on 07/17/2015
★★★★☆

I just found this website and all I can say is - Thank You! I've been applying essential oil of clove to my tooth, (my lower right side, canine) and taking 2 aspirin a day as needed. These two things have really helped. (past week or so).

Last night and this morning, I added 10 drops of tea tree oil to 8 oz. of water and swished until glass empty.

I'm now going to call my local pharmacy to see if they sell colloidal silver. OR, order online. I've heard about c.s. for years, but I was too chintzy to pay $$ for one bottle. But, with a possible dental visit now looming in front of me, I've changed my mind about being chintzy! Lol

Question: Any reccomendations for what kind of colloidal silver? Particular brands? What?

It's been years since I last went to a dentist.. and I'd like to keep it that way.

Best Regards,

Susan9k


Cloves
Posted by Mercy (Tx, US) on 01/03/2015
★★★★☆

Last month I had two extraction and about three days ago I started to experience pain on all my teeth, I didn't pay too much attention but I had a suspicion that one of my extractions had gotten infected even though I took prescribed antibiotic (not normal for me).

Well, to make a long story short the second day I woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating pain on one of my teeth but it kept changing from tooth to tooth so I made an appointment with my dentist. He took ex-rays but said he didn't see any infection and everything looks fine. He said I can get a root canal but he is not able to do it himself because I have a strange canine that has two roots and the split of the roots is very deep from the surface.

This morning when I got up my face, jaw line was swollen and that particular tooth hurt really bad. I felt feverish and achy, right away I remember my Indian and Caribbean ancestry where we used nature for healing as a first alternative and then... I went to another website which I don't know if am allowed to mention and read up on it. I first brush my teeth and tongue with sea salt ( this cleaned my teeth so beautifully) then rinsed with warm water and salt. After that I followed up with pure 100% virgin cold pressed Olive Oil and held it in my mouth for about 10 to 15 minute which I spit out at the end of the 15 minute.

Then I took a teaspoon of ground clove and with my clean fingers rubbed it all through my infected area inside my mouth and the entire gum, after about 30 minutes the pain went away and the swelling started going down. I kept doing this every couple of hours or so. Am glad to tell you that the swollen has gone away in about 8 hours later, the tooth area is still tender but I will continue until is completely cure the infection.

I also realize that I have abandoned my upbringing and I need to have a more holistic approach to my overall health. After feeling better I went to the grocery store and began the "Daniel Fast" (which I have been doing every year around the same time) only eating foods that mother nature provides us with, this even includes the oil and condiments that I use to prepare my meals. Please be careful with sugar, agave and white flour because even though it is from the ground it is processed and one of our worst enemy for our general health and teeth. I should also say that I have not eaten meat for over 30 years but I do eat fowl and fish but not while am fasting. However I am seriously considering giving that up too.

May God and good health be with you for all the days of your life!!!!!!! Let there be love and peace on earth.


Cloves
Posted by Davey (Austin, Tx) on 12/04/2014
★★★★★

I went through some of the worst pain I've ever experienced back in 2011...

I was so proud of those teeth! They came in was I was 25,26, just when I was convinced that my top wisdom teeth would never come in. The bottom pair had come in years earlier, but they had only partially erupted, and are presently hanging out down around the gum-line in perpetual ambiguity.

They grew and grew, these new teeth, and to my initial delight, they never seemed to stop growing. They were my pride and joy for a little while, these giant, glistening white pillars.

At some point they were no longer something to be proud of, these honking chunks of glorified calcium protruding from the recesses of my upper jaw. They got in the way when I chewed my food, slowly grinding away on the lower teeth that couldn't compete. First the left-top wisdom tooth decayed away to almost nothing, in a matter of months. It resulted in the formation of a giant crater in the back of my jaw, this after 28 ys without a single cavity.

I had no idea what to do when the shooting pain in the back of my mouth began. I'd been through an exceptionally painful ordeal once before, but this had occurred when I was just 6 years old. Were it not for a medical breakthrough just prior to the onset of my ordeal in 1988, this would literally have been a fatal condition. I spent a very long time in the hospital, experiencing a great deal of pain, and those are some of the earliest memories I can recall clearly (as if they happened yesterday). The abscess in my tooth was the first trauma that came close to reminding me of those early experiences.

I remember the first time I chewed up some cloves. I'd been popping pain pills for weeks, totally unlike me, which goes to show how bad the pain was. A friend of mine told me that they were able to clear up a tooth abscess using chewed-up whole cloves, and convinced me to try the remedy.

The pain was dramatically reduced the first time I chewed up some whole cloves and used my tongue to apply them to the abscess. The swelling and tenderness in the gum around the tooth also began to subside almost at once.

Over the course of the next week I continued to chew up whole cloves and apply them every two or three hours. By the end of the week the infection was cleared up and the pain and swelling were gone.

3 years later, I'm going through the same thing with the wisdom tooth on the other side. Thankfully, I know what to do this time- I'm chewing up cloves and placing them in the abscess, which seems to be a better remedy than clove oil to me.

Never, ever swallow clove oil, btw, whether it's from a bottle or from a few chewed cloves. Very toxic. Always spit, but let it swish around in the mouth for a while. You will want to spit a lot after using clove a dental antiseptic/ analgesic. Do it, then drink plenty of water a little while after you are done spitting.


Cloves
Posted by Bosco (Beaver Falls, Pa) on 09/08/2009
★★★★★

Clove Oil helped my aching tooth. It was a friday night when my tooth started to ache (go figure, and on labor day weekend so no dentist available for 3-4 days, always my luck). I spent labor day with an ice pack on my jaw and cheek all day. I used anbesol so many times i began to like the flavor. I had to figure something out because the next day I had to open my store and run my business and had to sleep. So I saw this about clove oil. I tried a couple drops of pure clove oil on a gauze pad and held it between my teeth. As soon as it became saturated, it was unbearable and I had to spit it out. At that point the pain went from 7 to 10 (on a scale of 1-10). When I finally got my jaw frozen again, I decided to try again. This time I mixed 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and 2-3 drops of clove oil in a small dish and dunked a gauze pad in. It tasted much better that way. I held it between my teeth for as long as I could before the pressure was causing more pain than the tooth was. Needless to say, the pain went away completely for the next 4 hours. To be sure I didnt wake up in the middle of the night with massive pain again, I dunked another piece of gauze in and held it for about 10 minutes. The nextg morning I woke up with no pain. Didnt need more until about noon. Great Remedy


Cloves
Posted by Valarie (Portland, OR) on 06/03/2009
★★★★★

(yea) I had a toothache (abcess) and used a couple drops of Oil of Cloves on a Qtip applied to the area. It killed the pain and have had 2 days of no pain, plus the swelling has gone down. Also rinsed mouth several times per day with sea salt water. The dentist and I agree to pull the tooth as it is loose and basically a goner. I also tried Oil of Oregano and rinsed with baking soda in water.


Cloves
Posted by WM (Marion, IL, USA) on 12/02/2008
★★★★★

infected teeth: oil of cloves is great fror pain also for lower teeth, bite down, find the high point of the masseter muscle, relax bite massage counter clockwise with the fingertip, counterclockwise ..as an outside view, for the upper teeth the point is in the joint of the jaw, 15 seconds ought to suffice, do both sides, as nerves often cross in the spinal area. for infection, bring milk in a pan to a simmer, take off heat, add any kind of edible mushrooms, as soon as you can tolerate the heat..take a tablespoon of the liquid, rinse it around the mouth till you have to spit it out..never swallow it!..by the time the pan is emptied, the infection should be gone.


Cloves
Posted by Ellen (Arlington, TX) on 08/31/2008
★★★★★

I woke up with a horrible toothache around 5:30 AM, this morning. I took two Tylenol and used Chloraseptic spray on the gums surrounding the tooth that was hurting. Nothing really worked. Actually the pain progressed until I couldn't do anything but sit in my computer chair and deal with the agonizing pain. I found this site a few weeks ago and had used two other recommended cures for other issues with great success. So it finally occured to me to search this site for a cure for toothache. Under the topic of tooth absess I saw clove oil and powdered cloves were used by many for relief of tooth pain. I immediately went to the kitchen and rubbed powdered clove on the surrounding gums. Within minutes my pain had diminished to bearable levels. I ate and then applied more powdered clove. The pain is gone! I am so grateful for this website. It has made a huge difference in my life in the last few weeks. Thank you all.


Cloves
Posted by Jamie (Mesa, Arizona) on 01/10/2008
★★★★☆

Pertaining to clove powder, it is incredible. The tooth pain is gone but unfortunately, the abscess is still hurting but I just may be able to sleep today.


Cloves
Posted by Helen (Merrill, Wisconsin) on 08/22/2007
★★★★★

Ok after reading all the posts here, I ran to the grocery store and bought cloves, garlic, grapeseed oil (the store didn't have coconut oil) and tumeric. I put powdered cloves on my abscess for the pain. Pain is instantly gone. I will apply the garlic, oil, and tumeric later and let you know how that works!

Replied by Cc
(Atlanta)
07/21/2013

What was your outcome?


Cloves
Posted by Sue (Ottawa, Canada) on 03/26/2007
★★★★★

Cloves are nothing short of a miracle. I'd been in severe pain with an abscess and not even the most potent painkillers, antibiotics or extra strength oragel were helping. I read about clove oil on the internet and went to the local health food store to find some. They didn't carry it and neither did the drug store, so I bought powdered cloves and emptied the contents of a teabag and put the clove powder in. Within 5 minutes I was PAIN FREE for hours. I actually got some sleep! This is an unbelievable remedy and I only wish it were taken more seriously. No one with a toothache needs to use anything but cloves!


Cloves
Posted by Kathy (Canonsburg, PA) on 11/20/2006
★★★★★

Oil of cloves and peroxide for Abscess tooth cured my abscess overnight. Because I have no dental insurance I decided to look on the internet for natural cures for an abscess. My cheek was so swollen for a couple days I looked like a 'chipmunk". It was swollen inside my mouth to the size of a dime and I got no relief. Yesterday (Sunday) I alternated between the peroxide and oil of cloves and today it is gone. I can't believe it. I could hardly eat or talk yesterday. Thank you thank you for your valuable website.