On Saturday, May 18th, 2002, I started to get a toothache. By Sunday the pain was unbearable, and I knew that this was going to mean a trip to the dentist - but not until Monday so what to do until then? Well, that night, after doing some of my own research, I started using a blend of clove, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus, and rosemary essential oils, and also used helichrysum essential oil directly on the tooth and gums to try to deaden the pain. They all worked very well, but I did not like the taste of any of them. On Monday I went to the dentist, who immediately sent me to an endodontist (which is never good). After driving to the endo's office and waiting for an hour, I got into the chair. A few minutes of digital x-rays, sensitivity tests, and perio-probing determine that I had a cracked tooth that had become severely infected. The pain was much worse as I sat in the chair and he told me what my choices were for fixing the tooth. We decided to go the oral surgery route, due to the fact that the cracked tooth already had a root canal and a crown on it. The big issue at that point was the infection, and my refusal to take antibiotics or any synthetic, pharmaceutical drugs. "You have to take antibiotics," he said, "otherwise you cannot kill the infection. And while the tooth is severely infected, I cannot do the surgery." I told him that I understood, and would take the prescriptions home with me, but I was going to continue using the essential oils for a couple of days to see if they would work. There was no way I was going to take the Keflex and Motrin combo that he had prescribed - without even asking me if I had any allergies. Keflex is not a good choice for people who are allergic to penicillin or other cephalosporin antibiotics, as it can cause severe reactions. I am allergic to penicillin, and was aware of this potential reaction thanks to a recent addition to my library - Prescription Alternatives by Dr. Earl Mindell. When I told the endodontist I would get rid of the infection without the antibiotics, I really had no idea what I was going to do. By the time I got home I was exhausted and in a lot of pain, so I laid down on the couch and nervously started thinking about how I was going to get rid of this infection within the eight days left before the surgery. My head was pounding so bad that I couldn't think or read any of my reference books, I finally had to just lay back and rest. It was then that I heard two words very softly in my head: the recipe. What? The recipe! The essential oil antibiotic recipe. Luckily, I had some empty capsules on hand and all of the necessary oils. I began making the antibiotic capsules that night, and took two capsules a day. After only two days, most of the pain was gone, which meant that the infection was subsiding! Feeling confident that this was going to kill the infection, I put the prescriptions in my wallet so I could give them back to the endodontist when I returned for the surgery.

Wednesday, May 29th was the day of the oral surgery. The first thing the endodontist did was to see if the infection was gone, and indeed it was - along with the pain. When I first went it in on the 20th, I couldn't even touch the area with my tongue because it hurt so bad. This was a major improvement. He asked immediately if I had taken the antibiotics, and I told him that I never did get the prescriptions filled as I handed them back to him. He was completely dumbfounded! I explained how I used essential oils to combat the infection, and he commented that I had obviously done my homework and maybe "they" should pay more attention to people like me who have successfully used their own alternative therapies. That comment made me wonder what other remedies he's encountered with his patients, and happy to know that there are others who are trying to find alternatives to prescription drugs.

So, with the infection gone and his questions answered, he performed the surgery. While it was painless, it sure did feel weird! He cut the gum above the tooth and went in right at the root. I could feel the cut and the endodontist peeling back the gum away from the tooth, a very strange feeling to say the least. The surgery took about an hour, and when he got done he told me again that I had to take antibiotics! He explained how this particular tooth was next to my sinus cavity, which was wide open during the surgery and the reason why he was so concerned about the infection and my refusal to take antibiotics. Anyway, now that it had been opened up there was a high possibility of recurring infection and he was insisting that I had to take antibiotics for a week while it healed. Needless to say, I took the piece of paper with the prescription that he wrote out, but I had no intentions of using it.

The local he gave me for the surgery lasted about an hour after I got home. The pain was definitely not as bad as it was when the infection was at its peak, but I was far from being comfortable. I stayed awake for a while, and even managed to take a capsule of the essential oil antibiotic fairly soon after getting home. I couldn't eat anything, but the oils did not upset my stomach. It wasn't until the late afternoon when I finally dozed off on the couch, where I stayed for the rest of the night. When I woke up the next morning, it felt pretty good. My cheek was still a little swollen, but it had gone down from the day before and the pain had subsided to a dull ache. Three days after the surgery there was still some swelling and a little discomfort, but after what had been done in there I thought that that was probably normal. I stayed on the essential oil antibiotic therapy for seven days after the surgery, and also used a mouth rinse that I made with stevia concentrate, peppermint oil and water. Stevia has been found to help skin heal and it inhibits growth of some bacteria and infectious organisms, including those that cause tooth decay and gum disease, so I figured it would be a good choice - plus it tastes really good and is super sweet. The peppermint oil worked for the pain, is anti-infectious, antibacterial and antifungal, and also tasted much better than all of the other different oils that I had been experimenting with.

On June 3rd, I went back to the endodontist to have the stitches removed. Thankfully this procedure was relatively painless compared to what I'd been through over the past two weeks. The endo said that the gum was healing very nicely, even without the antibiotics I pointed out. It was still a little sore, but he said the gum should be completely healed after another week, which it was. It was about a month before I chewed on that side again, and when I did it was without even realizing it. When I became aware of what I was doing, I got scared, but then noticed that there was no pain. I still baby it a bit, and have to go back for the final check up in December, which will be six months since the surgery was done. He'll take some more x-rays to see how the root's healed, and if everything looks good and there's still no pain, that will be the end of this chapter of Experimenting on Yourself using Natural Remedies with Sha.

Proving that there are alternatives to pharmaceutical drugs has become a hobby for me, as well as questioning doctors and their corporate medicine practices. But it's also important to make others aware of these healthier choices by being a living example of the possibilities, and sharing my experiences with as many people as possible. Educating yourself is the key to doctoring yourself. But just like science, experimenting is necessary to find out what works best for you.

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Be sure to read the second installment from Marsha,
When Good Teeth Go Bad.