Favorite Ways to Ease the Pain of a Toothache

smiling female mouth with pearly white teeth
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Have a toothache? We would suggest that you go to the dentist, but to help pass the time while you wait for your appointment, consider this (not-so-practical) advice from 1991’s The Best of The Old Farmer’s Almanac compilation book. 

Toothache Remedies to be Taken with a Grain of Salt

 

The Simple but Disgusting Methods

  • Eat grasshopper eggs.
  • Place fresh cow manure on the side of the face where the ache occurs.
  • Hold a live frog against the aching cheek.
  • Apply a crushed ladybug to the aching tooth.
  • Never wash on a Tuesday.

The Weird and Complicated Methods

  • Take the tooth of a murdered man or, better still, an executed criminal and apply it to the aching tooth in a graveyard at midnight under a full Moon.
  • On Good Friday, comb your hair and collect the hair that falls out. Burn it and inhale the fumes.
  • Pick your teeth with the nail of the middle toe of an owl.

Better to Have the Toothache

  • Eat the eyes of a vulture.
  • Bite off the head of a live mouse, put it in a bag, and suspend it from your neck. The ribbon or thread must not have a knot in it.
  • Press the finger of a corpse against the aching tooth.
  • If all else fails, an ancient Chinese physician recommended a pill of arsenic, which the patient should “put close to aching tooth, then sleep. Cure certain.” And final. 
About The Author

Ginger Vaughan

Ginger is the Owner and President of Vaughan Communication, where she works with a variety of clients, managing and coordinating PR campaigns and events. Read More from Ginger Vaughan

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