We get canker sores (aka mouth sores) quite regularly here at our house, especially hubby and the boys. Often caused by stress, at least for my guys, we also find them to be somewhat hereditary as grandma gets them wicked bad too.
For years I’ve been looking for a natural remedy that would help ease the pain the canker sores caused as well as make them stop appearing, but, nothing seemed to work.
Then, one day about a year or so ago now, an herbalist friend gave us a tincture of Spilanthes.
Commonly known as the “toothache herb” Spilanthes (Acmella Oleracea) is quite an amazing and beautiful plant. Native to South America, it has nice big green leaves and beautiful yellow and red blooms that appear on tall thin stems above the leaves.
The herb’s most notable property is the numbing effect it has on the teeth and gums; hence its nickname. Spilanthes has also been found to increase saliva production and, it also offers antifungal and antibacterial properties which can benefit the mouth as well as the entire body.
Additionally, Spilanthes offers antiparasitic properties which has made it useful in the treatment of malaria, and, it can be used topically on skin infections and wounds with great success.
Back to mouth sores though. Spilanthes is simply excellent for mouth pain of any kind really including, toothaches, teething in babies, and cuts and sores in the mouth
To use the herb, many people simply chew the leaves and flower heads, but having a bit more precision in the method of application is better for mouth sores; which is where the tincture comes in handy. Just a few drops of the Spilanthes tincture and the pain of the canker sore subsides instantly. The numbing effect it gives isn’t quite like a chemical numbing agent, it’s gentler; yet interesting all the same as all numbing agents are!
The biggest perk we noticed from using the Spilanthes tincture though is how it helps the sore heal so much more quickly; a huge blessing. The increase in saliva it produces is interesting too, yet oddly enough a nice bonus when you have a mouth sore as having a dry mouth makes them hurt more.
While we never used the synthetic numbing creams on our mouth sores that much, sometimes, they’d get so bad just a bit of relief was needed. I never liked the thought of rubbing those chemicals into out systems though; especially the kids who have gotten them as young as 2 and who needed pain relief the most.
No more of that though! We’re hoping to add Spilanthes to our new herb garden this spring actually so we can make our own mouth sore remedies because we’re all so grateful we can use this lovely plant as an excellent natural medicine to help us heal even the worst canker sores – and now, you can too!