The Iyalode

I recently had to remove a tooth that had been problematic for at least fifteen years; and I must say it’s by far the most terrible kind of pain I’ve ever experienced. The picture above makes it easy to comprehend why tooth ache is one of man’s worst nightmares in terms of pain. It’s a dungeon of intertwined nerves!

It wasn’t my first time of removing a tooth, but I don’t recall the pain being this massive. The tooth in question however, was worked on three years ago (tooth filling with a surgical implant), and boy, that was painful too, but not compared to this last one.

At the height of the pain, I remember likening it to labour pains, but this was worse. I’ve had two children, one via natural birth and the other via caesarian section, and neither of these experiences came close to this tooth pain and that’s probably because complications arose stemming from the fact that it had previously been worked on.

I did everything according to prescription but the pain wouldn’t even reduce until I had to weigh my options between overdosing on pain relievers or taking a local advise I’d been given.

I chose the latter.

And now I make bold to say, especially if you are still at an early stage of tooth decay/ pains, that you can try out the following:

1. Warm water salt solution: pour a levelled teaspoon of salt into a cup of warm water (about 200mls). Stir well and gargle with it till you use up the entire content. Do this morning and night or after every meal.

2. Dry gin: also called ‘spirit’ for good reason. Gargle with a cap full of dry gin in the morning and at night, after your last meal. It also helps with mouth sores/ pains. Do not swallow, and do not abuse usage. Just gargle for a few seconds, spit and rinse your mouth with water.

Althought warm salt water solution is said to aid healing of sore gum (after the surgery), one would have to use it a minimum of 8 times a day, according to my dentist. And the result was really slow anyway.

The gin however worked like magic. The gum (felt like it) started to close up almost immediately. The pains went down drastically and under 24 hours, I could totally wean off medication and make attempts to brush the problematic region.

I’ve also been told that a special type of chewing stick (pako in Yoruba), called ata orin helps clear ‘germs that cause decay’. When I try it (I definitely would), I’d be back for a recap.

I believe everything we need to remain healthy is locally available to us, but westernisation has taken us away from this understanding. Many of our older generation however staunchly stand by their old tradition. I see many elderlies with strong teeth, and most of them would not joke with their pako, and a few of them do the spirit ritual.

It is probably best, by the way, to raise the next generation of kids to totally abstain from soda and other ‘goodies’ that do more harm than good. Once they grow up with it, it becomes difficult a habit to break and form consistent problem on which we continue to spend.

Hope you found this useful 👍🏾