Cloves heal. These under-appreciated blossoms contribute health to a wide-variety of health troubles. When all my wisdom teeth were removed, I quickly discovered the agonizing pain of dry sockets. Vicodin left me with a hangover headache that was worse than the dry sockets. In desperate search for a solution, I remembered the old home remedy of using cloves for a toothache. Upon request, my surgeon supplied me with several strips soaked in clove oil and the tools to stuff them into the healing sockets. I used them faithfully to relieve the pain – almost entirely – until the wounds healed. This wasn’t a placebo effect, either. Human subjects have reported less pain when clove oil was used in dentist procedures.
Cloves help your heart, digestion, blood sugar, sexual health, and have deodorizing and anti-cancer effects.
- The eugenol found in cloves may inhibit inflammatory progression in human cells, and IV infusions of clove has actually reduced lung cancer.
- Folk remedies use it for improving digestion and reducing flatulence. This can be achieved with simple mulled cider or homemade chai tea spiced with clove.
- Anti-spasmodic: use in a tea to reduce coughing, or try it topically to treat muscle spasms.
- Animal studies have shown that it reduces yeast infections when used topically over the infected area. However, it can also irritate mucus membranes or promote dermatitis, so apply with care. You can purchase it as an oil or salve and apply several times daily. Clove oil is not recommended for internal use for yeast infections.
- Clove used in topical cream may help prevent premature ejaculation.
- One clove study found that a daily dose of cloves lowered cholesterol while improving insulin performance. This study showed that the daily cloves reduced overall glucose, triglycerides, and LDL (“lousy”) cholesterol levels. It also inhibits lipid peroxidation, which promotes heart disease.
- Traditional herbalism includes clove oil as pain reducer for teething babies. Hippiedippiebebe.com shares that you can mix one drop of clove oil with 1-2 Tbsp carrier oil, such as olive or almond, and massage into baby gums. People with sensitive teeth can try making a clove compress or by anointing teeth with the clove-carrier oil mixture. However, use caution, as this could also burn baby or cause allergic reactions. For baby, it’s probably best to stick to commercial remedies containing clove oil that have been tested.
- During the Han dynasty, you could only speak to the Emporer after managing your breath by chewing on clove. In Medieval times, cloves effectively masked the odor of improperly preserved foods.
- To evaluate its freshness, squeeze the clove with fingers; it will release oils when fresh. Alternatively, drop a few cloves into water. Good ones will float vertically, while older cloves will sink or float on their sides.
- Cloves can be added to classic sweets, like pumpkin pie, oatmeal cookies and applesauce. They are traditionally used in combination with other herbs to flavor meats, stews, marinades or pickles.
- In this post on Spices Your Oatmeal Craves, I provide my magic blend of several spices, including cloves, so that you can easily shake it over cereal, yogurt, cookies and more.
- It is an essential ingredient in garam masala (an Indian classic), Chinese five-spice (a Chinese staple spice), and in the mulling spices for apple cider.
- Use a coffee grinder to grind whole cloves just before combining with other spices (for freshest flavor).
A home remedy using clove and cinnamon topically to reduce pain is provided by David Grotto, RD, LDN, in his book “101 Foods That Could Save Your Life”:
Make a paste from one-quarter teaspoon clove powder and one teaspoon cinnamon oil. Apply this to the forehead for headaches or to any other painful area. To relieve a toothache, chew on a clove or dip cotton in clove oil and apply it to the painful area.
Do you know someone who could benefit from cloves? Send them this post. You might just save them!
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Frances, thank you for another excellent post! I regret to hear you had to have your ‘wisdom’ teeth removed, but it does not seem to have any adverse effect on your wisdom, eh?
Hehehe. . . I am wise enough to know not to answer such inquiries, Wes. Thanks for the humor, friend. =-)
clove oil works great for tooth pain,but can burn the gums,as noted, also long term use can harm the root nerve, leading to early loss of tooth. keep up the great work ,to help enlighten the world one post at a time, pops
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