Sunday 6 July 2008

The perils of popcorn

Blogger won't let me upload images, not sure if it will even let me post this. I'll try again tomorrow. After 10 days of feeling extra awful I realised I had an abscess on my molar. The culprit was a piece of popcorn husk!

Once I realised what it was (when it was so hugely swollen that my self help brain kicked into action (finally!) and I made a mouthwash with diluted apple cider vinegar & geranium oil (because I had run out of Tea Tree oil) to kill the bacteria and sooth the pain which I used every 2 hours through the night. I also made pressed on
a teaspoonful of sodium bicarbonate to draw out the nastiness.

By the time I saw the dentist the next day I had pretty much cleared it, except for the piece of popcorn. He said he would have given me anitbiotics if I'd come to them earlier, but that what I'd done had been really effective so there was no need for any medication. I was so pleased with myself, I hate taking antibiotics and you know how much I believe in the power of vinegar for all manner of things.


Apparently the infection had been really severe but I had attributed the feverishness and feeling awfulness to my other ailments and didn't really take the gum/tooth pain seriously until I found a pea sized lump in the middle of my jaw which, it turns out, was a swollen lymph gland. I thought lymph glands/nodes were at the back of the jaw and under the jaw, but there are little ones all over the place. You learn something new everyday. I'm rather fond of my little bit of lymph now, the unsung hero of my jawline. I wonder how long it will take to go flat again?

So the moral of the story, if you get popcorn under you gum and you can't reach it with floss, go to the dentist before it turns nasty.

5 comments:

Ruth Singer said...

good for you! I had an infection under a tooth for which i was prescribed penicillin. Instead I took tonnes of vitamin C, used saltwater mouthwash and took it easy for a few days. worked a treat, with no drugs!

I also used clove oil on a broken tooth (unbelievably painful) until I could get to the dentist, wow, that really works too. took the pain away completely.

Cally said...

Yes, the cloves oil is a godsend on a bad tooth. I had some but it was out of date (15yrs out of date!) so I was reluctant to use it cause some oils have the opposite effect when they get old. I must refresh my supply of key oils. I tend mainly to have the ones for sore muscles these days.

When I was at college 3 people came to me with bad abscesses, they were all from the North of Scotland so they couldn't easily get to their dentist. They all cleared in about followed by saltwater mouthwashes. It's kind of annoying that if these things were made by Colgate everyone would use them, but since they're not they get treated with suspicion.

Anonymous said...

I think it's great how you know what to use as natural remedies, so useful to know.

Susan Schwake said...

bravo cally! i had the same experience with popcorn and ugh, it was so annoying. wish i had your remedy on hand at that time!
wishing you blue skies and warm summer breezes...
susan

Ursula Achten said...

it's so good to have some knowledge about homemade remedies!!
Hurray to how you helped yourself!

Hehee, in lack of cloves I once took two drops of cloves oil for a dessert.....phew!!

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