Eating garlic can cure toothache?

Toothache is probably the most common discomfort in life. It affects eating, it affects rest, it affects work and play, and if there are any other important aspects of life, it certainly affects it. Accordingly, there are many folk remedies for treating toothache, such as chewing Sichuan peppercorns, applying garlic, adding white wine, etc.

So, are these methods reliable?

As the saying goes: "Toothache is not a disease, it hurts terribly." This is only true for the second half of the sentence. Toothache is of course caused by disease. Among them, the most common is pulpitis.

Pulpitis is a "blade disease" that is connected to dental caries in the front and periodontitis in the back. All pain requires the participation of nerves, and the nerves in teeth are quite special.

First, they are located in a narrow cavity, and secondly, around the cavity, they are surrounded by calcified dentin, and on the outermost side, there is hard enamel. Therefore, in order to cause tooth pain, the "defense line" outside the tooth nerve must be broken.

Schematic diagram of tooth structure (original picture source: christianpegand.com)

Dental caries is just such a means of "breaking prevention". If the oral cavity is not cleaned properly, the bacteria in the oral cavity may multiply wildly when encountering nutrients such as sugar, destroying tooth enamel and forming cavities.

Causes of dental caries [1]

After there is a cavity, bacteria can invade the pulp cavity and cause pulpitis; and the human body is not a "dry rice". , will counterattack quickly. For example, it releases tissue fluid and dilutes toxins secreted by bacteria. For example, it increases blood vessel permeability to facilitate the accumulation of immune cells.

However, the pulp chamber is very narrow. The fluid that leaks out in large amounts can squeeze the nerves of the teeth, causing intense, life-threatening pain.

If pulpitis is not relieved, it may further evolve into periodontitis, which is clinically manifested by pain, loose teeth, and weakness in chewing. In severe cases, periodontal abscess may even occur.

After talking about the reasons, let’s look at the countermeasures.

Zanthoxylum bungeanum

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“Zanthoxylum bungeanum wafer cures toothache” is a very common saying. In terms of specific operation, there are some who bite the pepper directly, and some who use the pepper to soak in wine.

Some scholars extracted volatile oil from Zanthoxylum bungeanum and then applied the volatile oil to the patient's oral mucosa. The results showed that the patient's tolerance to pain was significantly enhanced. [2] Animal experiments show that Zanthoxylum bungeanum boiled liquid has a definite analgesic effect, and there is a good effect relationship. The larger the dose, the better the analgesic effect. [3]

Unfortunately, there are more problems with Sichuan peppercorns than evidence of effectiveness. First, what exactly are the ingredients at work? Zanthoxylum bungeanum contains dozens of biologically active ingredients.[4] Some scholars believe that alkaloids are mainly responsible.[5] Others attribute the analgesic effect to citrinolide. [6]

If the ingredients are not clear, the effect is difficult to say. Our country has a vast territory and rich resources. Regardless of whether there are green peppercorns or red peppercorns, there are differences in the composition of red peppercorns from different origins. [7] Some studies say that green Zanthoxylum bungeanum has better analgesic effect. [6] Other studies say that red Zanthoxylum bungeanum has better analgesic effect. [5]Which one should I believe?

Another issue is dosage. In the clinical experiment just mentioned, 200 grams of Zanthoxylum bungeanum were taken and heated for more than 4 hours, and finally about 5 ml of volatile oil was obtained. It is difficult for ordinary households to prepare such high concentration of volatile oil.

In short, Zanthoxylum bungeanum may have a certain effect in treating toothache, but the specific effect depends on the character...

Garlic

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Garlic contains allicin, which has obvious antibacterial effects. Theoretically, eating some garlic can reduce oral bacteria.

However, as just mentioned, pulpitis is usually secondary to dental caries, caused by exudate compressing nerves. In other words, when tooth pain occurs, the tooth has been severely damaged by bacteria. If you sterilize it at this time, "distant water will not quench the near thirst"; garlic cannot absorb excess exudate, so it will naturally not reduce the pain, but may worsen it. The stimulation of the tooth nerve is not worth the gain.

Liquor

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On the surface, baijiu is a two-pronged solution that can both sterilize and anesthetize pain. . In fact, both routes have problems.

Alcohol sterilization relies on ethanol.

On the one hand, ethanol has a very high affinity and can enter the interior of bacteria. On the other hand, ethanol can denature proteins. Bacteria are also living organisms, and their metabolism cannot be separated from various proteins. Therefore, the bactericidal effect of alcohol is closely related to the concentration of ethanol. Clinically, 75% alcohol is usually used to achieve maximum bactericidal effect. Ordinary liquor is no more than 30 to 40 degrees, so the effect is naturally much worse.

As for the analgesic effect of alcohol, it is related to the central nervous system. By inhibiting the activity of the central nervous system and improving the body's tolerance to pain, the effect is not exact when used locally.

In short, these folk remedies cannot withstand careful scrutiny. When it comes to toothache, the best solution is prevention. Eat less sugar, quit smoking and drinking, eat some rough and chewy food appropriately, master effective brushing methods, and have regular check-ups to eliminate tooth decay and naturally greatly reduce the probability of toothache.

Don’t worry if you have toothache. You can first make an incision and drain the pus, then perform root canal treatment to remove the pulp and clean out the infected tissue. Before treatment, the doctor will inject an anesthetic. After treatment, the pain caused by bacterial infection usually disappears quickly.

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References

[1] Zhang Zhiyi. Oral Science[M]. 2008.

[2]Xia Boyang. 100 cases of tooth extraction using oral mucosal anesthesia with Zanthoxylum bungeanum volatile oil[J]. Chinese Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, 1983, 0(9): 3838.

[3] Fu Libo, Yuan Rui, Zheng Haiyan, et al. Study on the pain modulating effect of Zanthoxylum bungeanum boiled liquid on normal rats [J]. Heilongjiang Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, 2017(7): 218221.

< p>[4]Wang Yu, Ju Yong, Wang Zhao. Recent research on bioactive components in Zanthoxylum bungeanum[J]. Chinese Herbal Medicine, 2002, 33(7): 666670.

[5]Zhang Xiangjie, He Yongheng. Progress in pharmacological research on the analgesic effects of four traditional Chinese medicines: Zanthoxylum bungeanum, Corydalis corydalis, myrrh, and Panax notoginseng[J]. Chinese Modern Distance Education of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2009(1): 9698.

[6] Tong Ruxin, Wang Pumin. Pharmacological experimental study on citrus lactone, the active ingredient of green pepper[J]. Chinese Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine Information, 1999, 6(10): 3031.

[7]Chen Guangjing, Kan Jianquan, Li Jian et al. Comparative study on the chemical composition of volatile oil from red pepper from different origins [J]. Journal of Chinese Cereals and Oils, 2015, 30(1): 8187.

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Author: Zhao Yanchang