Toothaches are miserable for everyone. But, they are especially miserable for children, who may have a much lower threshold for pain. In addition, as a parent you may find it more difficult to manage your child’s toothache because you don’t want to give them a lot of medications.
First, it’s important to determine the location of the pain. In some cases, it may not really be a toothache at all, but rather painful gums where a tooth is about to erupt. If this is the case, try using an ice pack to numb the pain, or rub a little clove oil or vanilla extract on the gum. Both will act as a numbing agent. Because these remedies are all natural, you can use them as often as needed to keep your child comfortable.
If you find that the problem is, indeed, a toothache; first verify that the tooth isn’t broken or cracked. If the tooth is broken or cracked, seek emergency dental treatment.
Other toothaches in children are most likely the result of a cavity, so you will want to make an appointment with the dentist. But, provided you can manage their pain at home, the appointment need not be an emergency one. In addition to using clove oil and vanilla to help manage the pain, try the following home remedies for toothaches:
- Rinse with warm salt water – Rinsing can help dislodge any food that might have become lodged in the tooth, and salt water’s healing properties can not only help with the pain, but can help with the healing process, too. Do not let your child swallow, however.
- Rinse with hydrogen peroxide – Hydrogen peroxide can also help heal the problem, particularly if your child has an infected tooth, and can also help with the pain.
- Floss gently – If food has become lodged in a cavity; this is likely the source of most of the pain. If rinsing doesn’t dislodge it, flossing might. But, be gentle so that you don’t further irritate it and cause more pain.
Armed with these toothache remedies, you should be able to keep your child comfortable until his or her dentist appointment.
Keep in mind that with older teens, the source of the problem could be impacted wisdom teeth. When wisdom teeth try to erupt in an area that lacks room for them, they become impacted and can cause a tremendous amount of pain. Sometimes, the pain appears to be in the teeth that the wisdom teeth are pushing against. Impacted wisdom teeth generally require surgical removal, so it’s important to see the dentist right away.
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