My Dental Pain Abatement Herbal Tea

First published 7 January 2019 · revised and expanded 30 October 2026.

A turmeric, neem, nutmeg and garlic tea, made fresh each day and swished every twenty minutes.

See a dentist. Severe tooth pain can mean an infection that needs prompt treatment. Get urgent care for swelling of the face or jaw, fever, or any trouble swallowing or breathing, and remember that pain fading does not mean an infection has cleared. This rinse is what I used over a weekend while waiting for my dentist to open. It is not a substitute for dental care, and it is not for children.

I recently had some serious dental pain. It was a must-lie-down, tears-in-my-eyes, think-I-am-going-to-die kind of pain.

The only problem was that it was the weekend, and my dentist would not be open for two more days. So, what do I do?

Inspired by some principles of Ayurveda, I made the following. It worked for me.

What I used

Each day I made a fresh batch of the following:

Method

1. 1 Simmer

   I added the mix to 2 cups of water and simmered it for 2 to 5 minutes.

2. 2 Cool and strain

   I let it cool to room temperature and strained the solution.

3. 3 Add the oil

   I added a teaspoon of sesame oil to improve coverage.

4. 4 Swish

   Then I swished about an ounce of the tea for a minute, every twenty minutes, until the pain abated. It did not take long.

   A rinse is held and moved in the mouth, then spat out. Vāgbhaṭa’s instruction for a gaṇḍūṣa is to hold it “without swallowing it” (Sū. 22.11).

Rinses in Āyurveda

Holding a medicated liquid in the mouth is an old Āyurvedic therapy, with a chapter of its own in Vāgbhaṭa’s Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayam (Sūtrasthāna 22). Quoted from my translation.¹

Gaṇḍūṣa and kavala

When the mouth is full and it cannot be moved, it is a gaṇḍūṣa; kavala is otherwise.

Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayam, Sū. 22.12

By that definition, swishing an ounce of tea is a kavala, a mouthful that is moved. Vāgbhaṭa lists the diseases “especially curable by holding a kavala,” and the mouth is among them (Sū. 22.12). There are four kinds of these rinses, “snigdha (unctuous), śamana (palliative), śodhana (purificatory), and ropaṇa (healing)” (Sū. 22.1).

Sesame for the teeth

In dantaharṣa (hypersensitivity of teeth), dantacāla (loosening of teeth), and vātika (caused by vāta) mouth diseases, lukewarm or cold water mixed with sesame paste is beneficial for holding as a gaṇḍūṣa (mouth gargle) … or oil or meat soup daily.

Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayam, Sū. 22.5–6

The teaspoon of sesame oil, added for coverage, echoes the classical remedy for sensitive and loose teeth. Oil held in the mouth is also the classical root usually given for the modern practice of “oil pulling.”

Turmeric, neem, garlic

Turmeric and neem are both in Vāgbhaṭa’s bitter group (“nimbaka (neem) … dvirajanī (two types of turmeric),” Sū. 10.28–29). Neem is also in the āragvadhādi group, which “conquers vomiting, skin diseases, poisons, and fevers” and “purifies foul ulcers” (Sū. 15.17–18).

Garlic “is extremely sharp and hot … It cures … kapha (phlegm), and anila (vāta)” (Sū. 6.109–111), which agrees with the 2019 note that it reduces vāta.

Curious about another remedy? Ask Vāgbhaṭa answers from the same translation, with the verses quoted.

Sources

1. Vāgbhaṭa, Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayam, in Vāgbhaṭa’s Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayam: A Full English Translation, tr. Renay Oshop (2026). Loci quoted: Sūtrasthāna 6.109–111; 10.28–29; 15.17–18; 22.1, 22.5–6, 22.10–12. Paperback pp. 23, 43, 59, 79 (root text). In short quotations the translation’s parenthetical glosses are sometimes omitted.

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