Periodically someone will come into our office with a toothache and they have been attempting to remedy their pain by placing an Aspirin directly on the tooth.
Aspirin and your health
It’s difficult to say how the notion that putting Aspirin on your tooth is helpful but it seems to still be a common belief.
Placing an Aspirin directly on an aching tooth will not relieve the pain and in fact is quite a dangerous practice.
Aspirin, acetylsalicylic ACID can cause a chemical burn to the soft tissues in your mouth and actually make things worse. If you have a toothache, see your dentist right away and if you want to take Aspirin, put it in your stomach where it is meant to go.
Here are some other interesting facts about this amazing drug:
- Aspirin manufactured by Bayer, has been around for over 100 years, and was the first drug to be marketed in tablet form.
- It is estimated that as many as one trillion Aspirin tablets have been consumed since it was invented and each year 50 billion tablets are taken worldwide.
- Today, Aspirin is commonly used as a preventative agent to help prevent hear t attack and stroke caused by blood clots in the vessels that supply the heart and brain.
Why might aspirin be recommended daily?
An Aspirin a day is used for this purpose because one of its affects is to reduce the clotting potential of your blood. It is also now recommended by the Canadian Heart Foundation as a first line of defense for someone having signs of a hear t attack since it can potentially bust the clot that is causing the problem.
It is not recommended for initial treatment of stroke however since strokes may be caused by bleeding in the brain as well as by clots.
Aspirin is not for ever yone. Some people are allergic to it and it has the potential to irritate the stomach, can cause ringing in the ears, and rarely can result in a serious neurological condition in children called Reye’s syndrome.
So remember, Aspirin goes in the stomach not on the tooth. If you are at risk for heart attack or stroke and think you should be taking an Aspirin a day, consult with your Doctor.