For centuries healers used essential oils to help cure various diseases. They were also used to handle some of the symptoms of diseases that they couldn’t cure, such as inflammation and fever.
There was a time when people that today we would call an herbologist, were instead branded as witches because the uneducated people of the Middle Ages didn’t understand what the healers were doing. To them, it looked like potions and poisons.
But essential oils have made a comeback. It is true that many of the drugs that we use today are based on the knowledge the healers had about their properties. Pharmaceutical companies figured out how to chemically replicate these substances and created the drugs that we take today. They are still finding more and more plants with disease-curing properties in the forests around the world. So, what if these oils can we use for oral health.
What Essential Oils Work?
There are several herbs that are easy to use and also easy to find. Some may surprise you as they are so commonplace you wouldn’t expect them to do anything but make your food taste good. Piqued your interest? What are these simple herbs? These simple herbs would be cloves, thyme, cinnamon, oregano, and peppermint. Tea Tree Oil is another that you might not know about, but that has been used in oral care for centuries.
If you engage in tooth-pulling add some oregano to your coconut oil. It is an anti-inflammatory and also an antioxidant. Clove oil can be rubbed on the gums to relieve tooth pain. Thyme is good to use as a mouthwash ingredient. It adds flavor but also helps protect against tooth decay, gingivitis, and general mouth infections. Tea Tree Oil and cinnamon are both antiseptic and anti-bacterial. Both can be used in mouthwashes but note that Tea Tree Oil cannot be swallowed. You must spit it out.
Ask us about essential oils at your next appointment. We’d be happy to discuss them with you.
