Clove Oil for Toothache: How to Dilute It, and Why It Buys Time Rather Than Fixing Anything

Category: Oral Health

How to use clove oil for toothache safely: the dilution, the method, how long it lasts, and why it is a bridge to the dentist rather than a treatment.

Traditional uses & benefits

• Temporary relief of toothache while you wait for a dental appointment
• Clove bud oil diluted to about 2% in a carrier and held against the tooth for around ten minutes

Ingredients

• Clove bud essential oil (Syzygium aromaticum) (2 drops)
• Carrier oil (olive, coconut or almond) (1 tsp (approximately 5 mL))
• Cotton wool ball or bud (1 piece per application)
• Whole clove (alternative) (1 clove)

How to prepare

1. Book a dentist. Do this first, not after. Toothache is a structural problem and it does not resolve with pain relief. Everything below buys you time until that appointment, nothing more. 2. Rinse the mouth with warm salt water first, which clears debris from the area and may itself reduce discomfort. 3. Mix 2 drops of clove bud oil into 1 tsp of carrier oil. That is roughly a 2% dilution. Do not skip this: undiluted clove oil burns gum tissue. 4. Dip a small piece of cotton wool into the diluted mixture and squeeze out the excess so it is damp rather than saturated. 5. Hold or gently place it against the affected tooth for about 10 minutes. Target the tooth, not the surrounding gum, which is more easily irritated. 6. Remove it and spit out any residue. Do not swallow the oil. 7. Repeat no more than 2 to 3 times a day, and for no more than 2 days. If you are still needing it after that, the problem is escalating rather than settling. 8. Use an ordinary painkiller alongside if appropriate for you. Ibuprofen is generally more effective for dental pain than paracetamol because the pain is inflammatory, though check what is suitable for you with a pharmacist. 9. Get emergency dental or medical care immediately if you develop facial swelling, difficulty swallowing or breathing, fever, or if the swelling reaches the eye or under the jaw. Spreading dental infection is a genuine emergency.

Why it works

Eugenol, the main compound in clove oil, blocks the nerve signalling in the tooth much as a local anaesthetic does, and reduces local inflammation. The effect is real and short lived.

Time to effect

There is no long term. This does not heal anything. The underlying problem needs a dentist.

Not right for

Not for children, where swallowed clove oil has caused serious poisoning. Not for anyone with facial swelling, fever, or difficulty swallowing or breathing, which are emergencies. Not to be used undiluted, ever. And not a reason to delay seeing a dentist, which is the only thing that resolves the underlying problem.

What the evidence says

The FDA reviewed eugenol for toothache and in 1991 rejected its own advisory panel's recommendation to recognise it as effective, finding no controlled clinical evidence and reclassifying it as Category III. That rulemaking was never finalised and eugenol is not a permitted active in the current oral healthcare monograph. Eugenol's local anaesthetic action is real and it is still used in dental cements; what is missing is trial evidence that it treats toothache.

Who it suits best

Best for an adult with toothache who has already booked a dental appointment and needs to get through the night or the weekend until it. Not for anyone hoping to avoid the dentist, and not for children.

When to take it

acute

Common mistakes

• Using it undiluted. Neat clove oil causes chemical burns to the gum, and those burns are a recognised presentation in dental practice. Dilute to around 2%.
• Treating it as a fix. It masks pain for an hour or two. The decay, crack or infection underneath continues progressing the entire time.
• Using it to get through weeks rather than days. Two days maximum. If you still need it after that, the problem is getting worse, not better.
• Ignoring facial swelling. Swelling, fever or difficulty swallowing means a spreading infection and needs emergency care, not another cotton ball.
• Giving it to a child. Ingested clove oil has caused liver injury and seizures in children, and children cannot reliably avoid swallowing.
• Swallowing it or leaving the cotton in overnight.
• Applying it to the gum rather than the tooth, which irritates soft tissue more and helps less.
• Using clove leaf or stem oil instead of clove bud oil, which is harsher and lower in eugenol.

How we read the research

The FDA's 1991 finding of insufficient controlled clinical evidence for eugenol as a toothache remedy, a position never revisited. Eugenol remains in professional dental use for its local anaesthetic and antibacterial properties.

Sources

• Clove oil for toothache: evidence and safety (Medical News Today) (2023): Consumer clinical review covering the comparative trial in 73 adults in which a clove based preparation performed comparably to benzocaine, both significantly better than placebo, and noting the short duration of effect and the requirement for dilution. Also records that clove oil is not a substitute for dental treatment.
• FDA, Oral Cavity Drug Products for OTC Human Use, amendment to the tentative final monograph (56 FR 48302, 24 Sept 1991) (1991): Federal Register Vol. 56 No. 185, eugenol discussion at 56 FR 48308. Verbatim: 'The agency does not find sufficient evidence to exist to establish general recognition of the effectiveness of eugenol as a toothache remedy... Therefore, the agency is reclassifying eugenol as an agent for the relief of toothache from Category I to Category III.' IMPORTANT NUANCE: the FDA advisory Panel had placed eugenol in Category I (effective); it was the FDA that downgraded it, over the Panel, because no controlled clinical data had been submitted. That rulemaking was never finalised, and eugenol does not appear as a permitted active in the current OTC oral healthcare monograph M022 (2022).

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*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.