How to Get Rid of Toothache

How to Get Rid of Toothache Before the Dentist Opens

Start with three moves: a salt-water rinse, a cold compress and resting the sore side. Together they calm irritated gums and often take the edge off the throbbing. Still, the goal is comfort until morning, not a cure. So if the pain lasts more than two days, book a dental appointment.

Mixing a warm salt-water rinse

Getting rid of toothache often starts with something already in your kitchen. Stir half a teaspoon of salt into a glass of warm water until it dissolves. Then swish it gently around the sore tooth and spit it out instead of swallowing. Repeat it as often as you need, because it loosens food and soothes the gum.

Using a cold compress the right way

Wrap an ice pack in a thin tea towel and hold it against your cheek. Leave it for ten minutes at most, then pause for a similar time. Never put ice straight onto the tooth or bare skin, because it irritates the tissue. In short, here is how to get rid of toothache in the first hour.

1. First, rinse gently with warm salt water.
2. If food is stuck between your teeth, ease it out with floss without forcing it.
3. Hold a cloth-wrapped cold compress against your cheek.
4. Avoid very hot, very cold and sugary food for now.
5. Chew soft food on the other side of your mouth.
6. Take a painkiller as the leaflet or your pharmacist advises.
7. Finally, prop your head up with an extra pillow at bedtime.

Which Painkillers Help With Toothache?

Dentists usually suggest anti-inflammatory painkillers, because they ease the ache and the inflammation. However, they only buy time, since the cause stays untreated. With an infected tooth, they rarely give full relief in the first two or three days. Stay within the leaflet’s daily limit. With stomach, kidney or heart problems, blood thinners or pregnancy, ask a pharmacist first.

What a dentist prescribes first

Most toothache comes from inflammation inside the tooth. If that tooth has an infection, a prescribed antibiotic comes first: it calms the infection, and the pain then eases gradually. The NHS advises taking only antibiotics prescribed for you, as directed. Leftover tablets from an old course also fuel resistance.

Extra care in pregnancy and for children

Salt-water rinses and cold compresses are fine during pregnancy. But let your midwife or pharmacist choose the painkiller, as some suit only certain stages. Dental treatment can usually go ahead while you are pregnant, so do not wait. For children, the NHS advises against salt-water rinses and says under-16s should not take aspirin. Our guide to dental care during pregnancy goes into more detail.

Which Toothache Hacks Should You Skip?

Many tips on toothache and how to get rid of it are risky. A common mistake is pressing an aspirin tablet against the sore gum. As a result, the gum develops a chemical burn and a painful white patch. Similarly, heat on a swollen face can help an infection spread. Whisky or strong alcohol-based mouthwash, meanwhile, only irritates raw tissue.

Is clove oil worth trying?

Clove oil contains eugenol, an ingredient found in some temporary filling materials. Yet there is little reliable evidence that applying it at home eases toothache. If it spills onto the gum, it can burn and irritate the tissue. So check with a pharmacist before trying it.

How to Sleep With Toothache

When you lie down, more blood flows to your head. As a result, pressure builds inside an inflamed tooth and the throbbing worsens. An extra pillow under your head reduces that pressure. Before bed, brush gently and rinse with salt water to clear food particles.

Timing pain relief around bedtime

Within the leaflet’s limits, time your painkiller to cover the first hours of sleep. For many people, that is how to get rid of toothache long enough to drift off. But never take extra tablets just because the relief has faded. Pain that still wakes you despite medication usually means the inflammation has reached the pulp. So call your dentist first thing in the morning.

Choosing a sleeping position

Lying on the painful side presses on the cheek and can intensify the throbbing. Instead, sleep on your back or turn towards the other side. If biting hurts, a semi-upright position often feels easier.

Is It Decay, a Crack or Your Gums?

Deep decay that reaches the inner pulp is the most frequent cause. Cracked teeth and decay creeping under an old filling can produce a similar ache. Inflamed gums tend to cause a duller soreness around the tooth instead. For example, an emerging wisdom tooth can make the gum behind it sore.

Pulp

The soft core of the tooth that carries its nerves and blood vessels.

Pulpitis

Inflammation of the pulp; early on it causes brief twinges, later a lasting, throbbing ache.

Dental abscess

A pus-filled pocket near the root end or inside the gum, often with swelling and fever.

Chemical burn

A white, painful sore left when a tablet such as aspirin sits against the gum.

Oral diseases affect nearly 3.7 billion people worldwide. Untreated decay in permanent teeth is the single most common health condition.

World Health Organization, Oral health fact sheet, Global Burden of Disease 2021 data, March 2025

Less often, sinus inflammation shows up as pain in the upper back teeth.

When a cavity is the culprit

Pain that flares when food packs into a hole usually points to decay. Rinse the hole with warm salt water and avoid sweet or icy food for now. A dentist then removes the decay and seals the tooth with a dental filling. Once decay reaches the pulp, root canal treatment can usually save the tooth.

When Is Toothache an Emergency?

The NHS advises seeing a dentist if toothache lasts more than two days. Go sooner if painkillers fail, biting hurts, a bad taste appears or your cheek swells. So forget how to get rid of toothache at home and call your dentist. Early treatment is usually simpler.

Signs that need A&E today

Go to A&E if facial swelling spreads towards your eye or neck. The same applies to a high temperature, or difficulty swallowing, breathing or speaking. These signs suggest the infection has moved beyond the tooth. Instead of driving yourself, ask someone to take you or call an ambulance.

What happens at the dental appointment

First, the dentist taps the tooth, tests it with cold and checks the gum. An X-ray then shows the root tip and the surrounding bone. You may then need a filling, root canal treatment or a tooth extraction. Our toothache treatment page covers the causes in more depth.