Blog on the Lillypad
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
 | Natural anti-inflammatory
I went through the second phase of my three-phase, root-canal-get-a-crown procedure. I had the root canal a month ago and today was fitted for the crown and am sporting a plastic temporary that I will keep for a month until the porcelein crown is ready. Because of difficulties with the tooth, the dentist almost had to opt for an oral surgeon, but she managed to by-pass this more expensive alternative with a lot of gouging and digging into my gum. She warned me that my gum has taken quite a beating and will be sore for a week. When a dentist tells you it's going to hurt, you know it's going to hurt! |
"It's going to hurt for about a week," she warned me. "Advil or Aleve will help. Whatever you take, make sure it's an anti-inflammatory. An ordinary pain killer won't do it."
I also knew a tea bag would help, but I wasn't sure how much it would help, as the gum really hurt while I was still in her office. However, I had a small box of Lipton tea bags in the car, put there in readiness for today's procedure. As soon as I got behind the wheel I pulled out a tea bag and blocked it against the painful gum and tooth. I held it in my mouth as I drove. Within minutes it became a suitably mushy poultice.
By the time I reached the office, the soreness was much decreased.
Almost 20 years ago, an elderly dentist told me to rely on an orange pekoe cut tea bag as a poultice after any dental work. The tannins in the tea are antiseptic, and the tea is also anti-inflammatory. I used it after getting my wisdom teeth out and nicely avoided dry socket. (But after a tooth extraction, it's essential to never suck onthe tea bag or let a vacuum build under it. You don't want to rip open the wound.)
So far today I have gone through three Lipton tea bags but have not yet needed an Advil or Motrin. I'll keep up the tea bag terapy as long as possible to try to reduce the inflammation without drugs. And the antiseptic nature of tea is a great protection against infections that can occur after dental work.
A wet tea bag is also an age-old remedy for stings or insect bites, even infected patches of sunburn, or any open wound if medical first aid is not handy. Experienced backpackers keep a handful of tea bags in air tight readiness for treating mild burns, poison ivy, poison oak, mosquito bites, etc. Old timers used a strong brew of tea, cooled, to poor over bandaged wounds if there were no doctors available. I always use tea bags after dental work. They are an inexpensive and effective remedy to get a quicker recovery from post-dental soreness and some insurance against infections.
