How to Use the Toothache Plant for Pain Relief

Chewing a fresh flower head from the toothache plant (Acmella oleracea) delivers a fast-acting numbing sensation to the gums and mouth, thanks to a compound called spilanthol that works as a natural local anesthetic. The plant has been used this way for centuries across tropical regions of South America and Asia, and modern research has begun to confirm that spilanthol genuinely blocks pain signals and reduces inflammation rather than merely masking discomfort. But chewing flowers is only one way to put this plant to work, and the specifics of how you prepare and apply it determine what kind of relief you get.

What Spilanthol Actually Does in Your Body

The toothache plant’s pain-relieving power comes down to spilanthol, an alkylamide concentrated most heavily in the plant’s distinctive button-shaped flower heads. When spilanthol contacts tissue, it interacts with pain receptors and nerve pathways in several ways at once. Research has shown it blocks voltage-gated sodium channels in nerve cells, which is essentially the same mechanism used by synthetic local anesthetics like lidocaine. That sodium-channel blockade stops pain signals from traveling along the nerve.¹

Beyond the anesthetic effect, spilanthol also modulates a receptor called TRPV1, which is involved in sensing heat and pain. A study using formalin-induced pain in animal models found that flower extract reduced pain responses in both the immediate neurogenic phase and the later inflammatory phase, and that the effect depended on TRPV1 modulation rather than the body’s own opioid system.² The plant also appears to dampen inflammatory pathways by interfering with the production of prostaglandins and pro-inflammatory signaling molecules like TNF-α and interleukins.¹ So the toothache plant is doing double duty: numbing the area while simultaneously reducing the inflammation that causes pain in the first place.

Using Fresh Flowers for Tooth and Mouth Pain

The most traditional and straightforward method is to take a fresh flower head and chew it directly against the sore area. Within seconds you feel a strong tingling or buzzing sensation, followed by numbness that spreads across the gums and inner cheek. The effect typically lasts anywhere from fifteen minutes to half an hour. This approach has been used in Brazil, India, and across Southeast Asia for generations.³ The flowers also stimulate saliva production, which can help rinse bacteria away from a painful tooth.

If chewing a whole flower head feels too intense, you can press a single flower bud against the gum beside a painful tooth and hold it there for a minute or two without chewing. The spilanthol will still leach into the surrounding tissue. Some people find the initial tingling startling on first use. It feels a bit like a mild electric buzz, not painful but certainly unusual. That sensation fades into numbness fairly quickly.

The numbing effect is genuinely comparable to what you might get from a mild topical oral anesthetic. A randomized clinical trial testing a liposomal cream containing Acmella oleracea extract against other topical formulations found that the Acmella-containing cream performed comparably to a lidocaine-prilocaine formulation on the vestibular mucosa (the inner cheek and gum area), with no statistically significant difference in pain scores between the two.⁴ That trial also found that on the palate, both the lidocaine-prilocaine and the Acmella formulations significantly outperformed the other tested creams. This is encouraging evidence, though it involved a specially formulated cream rather than a raw flower, and a single clinical trial does not settle the question definitively.

Making a Tincture or Extract at Home

Fresh flowers are not always available, and their potency drops as they dry. A tincture preserves spilanthol for months. Laboratory analysis has shown that spilanthol extracts most efficiently in solutions containing more than 75 percent ethanol, and that the compound remains stable in those ethanolic extracts whether stored frozen or at room temperature.⁵ This means high-proof alcohol, such as 150-proof grain alcohol or similar, is a better extraction solvent than vodka or wine.

A common home preparation involves packing a small jar with fresh flower heads (leaves and stems contain spilanthol too, but at lower concentrations), covering them completely with high-proof alcohol, sealing the jar, and letting it steep in a cool, dark place for two to six weeks with occasional shaking. After straining, the resulting tincture can be applied with a cotton swab directly to a sore tooth or gum. A few drops are usually enough to produce the characteristic tingling and numbness. Because the alcohol itself can sting on broken tissue, some people dilute the tincture slightly before applying it to raw or inflamed areas.

Lab research on spilanthol and buccal mucosa (the tissue lining your mouth) has confirmed that spilanthol permeates oral tissue effectively. A study using porcine buccal mucosa in a diffusion-cell setup demonstrated that spilanthol passes through the mouth lining, and that different formulations can push the compound toward either a more localized or a more systemic effect depending on the carrier.⁶ For pain relief purposes, you generally want the localized effect, which a simple tincture dabbed directly onto the gum delivers well.

Topical Use for Non-Dental Pain

The toothache plant’s usefulness is not limited to the mouth. Spilanthol permeates skin as well, which opens the door to topical applications for muscle aches, joint soreness, and localized pain. A transdermal study demonstrated for the first time that spilanthol crosses the skin barrier at a measurable rate, with the degree of penetration depending on the composition of the carrier solution.⁷

To make a topical preparation, you can infuse the flowers and leaves into a carrier oil (olive oil, coconut oil, or similar) by gently warming the plant material in the oil at a low temperature for several hours, then straining. This oil can be rubbed into sore joints or muscles. The numbing effect will be milder than what you feel in the mouth, since skin is a tougher barrier than oral mucosa, but the anti-inflammatory properties still come through. Some people mix the tincture into a simple salve with beeswax for easier application.

Interestingly, spilanthol also appears to enhance the skin penetration of certain other compounds. Research found that increasing concentrations of spilanthol boosted the permeability of caffeine through skin by more than four-fold, and had a similar enhancing effect on testosterone penetration.⁸ This raises the possibility that combining spilanthol with other topical pain-relief compounds could improve their absorption, though that territory is still more research than practice for home users.

Antibacterial Benefits for Oral Health

Pain relief aside, there is a secondary reason the toothache plant is useful for dental problems: it fights the bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease. An in vitro study tested ethanol extracts of the plant against several bacterial species associated with dental caries and periodontal infections, including Streptococcus mutans (the primary cavity-causing bacterium) and Porphyromonas gingivalis (linked to gum disease). The extract showed significant antibacterial activity against all tested species, with the effect growing stronger at higher concentrations up to 100 mg/ml.⁹

This means that when you chew a flower bud for a toothache, you are not just numbing the pain. You are also introducing compounds that can reduce the bacterial load around the affected tooth. That is a meaningful advantage over a synthetic anesthetic gel, which dulls pain but does nothing about the underlying infection. Of course, lab-dish results do not always translate perfectly to what happens in a living mouth, and no extract replaces professional dental care for a serious infection. But as a stopgap measure while you wait for a dental appointment, the antibacterial activity adds genuine value.

Growing Your Own Toothache Plant

Acmella oleracea is a tropical and subtropical species native to Brazil, but it grows readily in warm climates worldwide and can be cultivated as an annual in temperate gardens.¹⁰ The plant thrives in moist, well-drained soil with partial to full sun. It grows low and bushy, usually reaching about a foot tall, and produces its characteristic yellow-and-red button flowers throughout the warm months. Seeds are available from many herb and specialty seed suppliers.

The concentration of spilanthol varies depending on how the plant is grown. Research has found that plants grown through micropropagation and then acclimatized outdoors accumulated higher levels of secondary metabolites, including spilanthol, than field-grown plants alone.¹¹ For home growers, the practical takeaway is that healthy, well-nourished plants produce more of the good stuff. Some growers have experimented with beneficial soil microbes to boost spilanthol production: one study found that treating plants with certain Trichoderma fungal strains increased spilanthol concentration in the flower heads by over 40 percent in one variety.¹²

For maximum potency, harvest the flower heads when they are fully open and the yellow disc florets are prominent. The flowers can be used fresh, dried (though some spilanthol is lost), or immediately processed into a tincture. Leaves and stems also contain spilanthol but at lower levels, so they can supplement a preparation but are not as effective on their own.

Safety and What to Watch For

The toothache plant has a long history of use as both a medicine and a food. In Brazilian cuisine, where it is called jambu, the leaves and flowers are a common ingredient in regional dishes from the Amazon. That widespread culinary use offers some reassurance about general safety at typical doses. A pharmacological review cataloged a wide range of reported biological activities, including antifungal, antipyretic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects, without flagging acute toxicity at normal usage levels.³

That said, there are practical cautions worth noting:

• Allergies: Acmella oleracea belongs to the daisy family (Asteraceae). If you are allergic to ragweed, chamomile, echinacea, or other plants in this family, proceed cautiously. Start with a small amount on the inside of your wrist and wait to see if any reaction develops before putting it in your mouth.
• Pregnancy: There is not enough safety data on spilanthol use during pregnancy or breastfeeding to recommend it. Traditional use in some cultures included the plant as a way to stimulate saliva and appetite, but the lack of formal safety studies in pregnant women is a gap worth respecting.
• Excessive numbness: If you use too much tincture or chew too many flower heads at once, you can numb a larger area of your mouth than intended, making it difficult to eat or drink safely. This is not dangerous, but it is uncomfortable and can lead to accidentally biting your cheek or tongue. Start small.
• Not a substitute for dental care: Spilanthol treats the symptom, not the cause. A toothache that persists for more than a day or two, or one accompanied by swelling, fever, or foul taste, needs professional treatment. The plant can bridge the gap, not replace the dentist.

There is essentially no published evidence on drug interactions specific to spilanthol in humans. Given its mechanism of blocking sodium channels, there is a theoretical concern about combining it with other local anesthetics or numbing agents, though at the doses involved in chewing a flower or applying a small amount of tincture, this is unlikely to be clinically meaningful. If you take medications that affect nerve function or blood clotting, mention your use of herbal preparations to your healthcare provider.

Beyond Pain: The Anti-Wrinkle Connection

One of the more surprising applications of the toothache plant has nothing to do with pain at all. The same muscle-relaxing and numbing properties that make spilanthol useful for toothaches have attracted interest from the cosmetics industry. A clinical evaluation of an emulsion serum containing Acmella oleracea extract found noticeable improvement in skin wrinkle parameters around the eyes and mouth after just two weeks of application.¹³ The mechanism appears to involve spilanthol’s ability to temporarily relax the tiny facial muscles that create expression lines, functioning somewhat like a very mild, topical version of a muscle relaxant.

Several commercial skincare products now list Acmella oleracea extract or spilanthol as an active ingredient, marketed under names like “natural Botox.” The comparison is an overstatement. Botox works by blocking nerve signals to muscles for months; spilanthol’s relaxation effect is temporary and far more subtle. But the research does suggest a real, if modest, cosmetic benefit. For anyone already growing the plant for pain relief, making a facial oil infusion from the flowers offers a low-cost experiment in wrinkle reduction. The same anti-inflammatory properties that help with pain may also reduce puffiness and redness in facial skin.

How the Toothache Plant Compares to Clove Oil

Many people who search for natural toothache remedies have already encountered clove oil, which contains eugenol and works through a somewhat different mechanism. Both are genuinely effective topical analgesics with long histories of traditional use. The toothache plant’s advantage is its broader mechanism: spilanthol numbs by blocking sodium channels, modulates pain receptors, and reduces inflammation simultaneously. Clove oil numbs effectively but lacks the same anti-inflammatory range. On the other hand, clove oil is far more widely available in pharmacies and health food stores, while fresh Acmella oleracea flowers are a specialty item unless you grow your own.

In practical terms, if you have access to both, they can even be combined. Applying clove oil to the tooth itself and pressing a toothache plant flower against the surrounding gum creates a one-two punch of eugenol on the tooth surface and spilanthol soaking into the gum tissue. Neither is a permanent fix, but together they can make a bad night with a toothache significantly more bearable. The key limitation of both remedies is the same: they address pain and inflammation at the surface, not an abscess or deep decay that requires a dentist’s intervention.

Using Dried Plant Material

If you cannot grow the plant or find fresh flowers, dried Acmella oleracea is sold by some herbal suppliers. Drying does reduce spilanthol content, so dried material will not produce the same immediate intense tingle that a fresh flower does. To get the most out of dried flowers, steep them in hot water to make a strong tea and use it as a mouth rinse, holding it against the sore area for thirty seconds to a minute before spitting. You can also rehydrate dried flowers slightly and press them against the gum, though the effect is weaker than fresh.

For tincture-making, dried flowers work but require a longer steeping time, and you should expect a somewhat less potent product than one made from fresh material. Some herbalists compensate by using a higher ratio of plant material to alcohol. If you are purchasing dried toothache plant, look for material that still has a noticeable yellow color to the flower heads; brown, faded flowers have likely lost much of their spilanthol to oxidation and age.

Regardless of the form you use, the experience follows the same arc: initial tingling and buzzing, then a spreading numbness, then gradual return of sensation over about fifteen to thirty minutes. Reapplication is safe as needed, though repeatedly numbing the same area can leave it feeling slightly raw or oversensitive once the effect wears off. Spacing applications at least an hour apart tends to avoid that issue.