How to Use Butternut to Cure Toothaches

Ease the pain of atoothache with butternut.

The butternut, or white walnut, is a slow-growing tree that grows in North America. It produces nuts that taste similar to butter. For this reason, squirrels, deer and birds find these trees irresistible. Humans prize these trees as well, and not only for the nuts. Indians discovered that the butternut tree can help cure toothaches.

Things You'll Need

• Knife

Instructions

1. Locate a butternut tree. Look for a tree with bark that has both furrows and ridges, and leaves shaped like elongated ovals. With the exception of one leaf that is on the very end of the clusters of up to 19 leaves, the leaves grow directly across from each other. Look for brownish, hairy butternuts up to 2 1/2 inches long that grow in bunches that hang down together.

2. Cut a portion of the bark from the butternut tree with your knife. Be careful not to cut too large a section as this could potentially damage the tree.

3. Hold the bark, inner side up, and scrape this inner portion with the blade of your knife.

4. Apply the resulting pulp to the affected area of your gum. Spit out the pulp when the pain goes away.

References

• Everyday Wisdom: Natural Remedies
• Tree Pictures: Butternut Tree
• "Herbal Remedies of the Lumbee Indians"; Arvis Locklear Boughman, Loretta O. Oxendine; 2004