“Whenever I accidentally bite my inner cheek, tongue, or lip, I immediately dilute 1 drop of clove essential oil with 5 drops of olive oil and rub on the affected area. Discomfort is quickly relieved, and within a few hourly applications, the discomfort forgotten.”
Janice Trachtman in the Mar 23, 2007 issue of Young Living e-News
Caleb’s Comment: Do you old-timers remember the 1976 movie “Marathon Man” starring Dustin Hoffman? He plays the role of a young Jewish guy who is mysteriously chased around and tortured by an ex-concentration camp dentist. During the torture scenes, the torturer picks, pokes and prods at Dustin’s teeth and gums and offers “oil of clove” for relief only if Dustin reveals the secret by answering the question, “Is it safe?” Dustin is clueless as to why this is happening to him of what the secret is, so is helpless during the ordeal. The torture finally relents and Dustin lunges for the small “oil of clove” bottle when it is offered to him.
I didn’t fully grasp the significance of this scene until I got involved with Young Living. My subconscious thought was, “Wouldn’t a shot of Novocaine be more effective? Now I understand that clove oil’s two principal constituents are eugenol (75-87%) and eugenol acetate (8-15%). Eugenol was used for years in the dental industry to numb gums.
So anytime there is tooth or gum related pain, remember the scene in “Marathon Man” and make a lunge for clove oil. Personally, I much prefer Thieves oil because it tastes much better. Its biggest ingredient is clove, but cloves horrid taste is offset by the good taste of cinnamon bark. And the use of Thieves toothpaste, mouthwash, lozenges should also be considered. Their effect is much more subtle, but there use fits naturally into everyone’s daily routine.