State

Toothache, Toothache, Go Away Some of the folk reme<licks wo usod would make a deiilisl ory. By AS НТО > CII\I*>1\\ If someone took the first baby tooth you shed and drove it into the trunk of an oak tree, or some one carefully buried each of your “milk” teeth as you lost them, you're supposed "never to have the toothache." Hut if you weren't thus protected from the toothaches of adolescence and adulthood, you might now try wearing the tusk of a hog on a red string around your neck, not only as a cure for present toothache but to keep you from ever having toothache again. Also you’re supposed to be free of toothache if you'll always trim your fingernails only on Fridays. Numerous other superstitions re¬ garding toothache and remedies therefore have sprung up in Tarheelia during past generations. A whole flock of such superstitions cluster around a baby’s teething, such as the belief that if a wool cap has ever been placed on its head or the child has ever been per¬ mitted to see itself in a mirror, "it will have fits cutting its teeth." Teething Babies Hut folklore also includes ways to help a baby teeth easily. Admittedly, some of these methods are rather re¬ pulsive. such as tying around the in¬ fant's neck a dead frog, a mole's right front foot, a rabbit's left hind foot, the tooth of a black bear, rattlesnake b«*nes and especially the snake's rat¬ tles. A necklace of elderberry twigs as a teething ring would seem hazardous should the baby swallow sharp- pointed ends of the twigs; but it seems downright dangerous for the mother to "string nine new needles on a thread and place them in a bag around the child's neck." None of these amulets must be al¬ lowed to fall to the floor, because this would make them lose their efficacy (if they had any to begin with). Other methods recommended for making teething easier are even more repulsive, such as "a good bite of earth¬ worm." a spoonful of chopped gar¬ lic. or the warm brains of a recently THE STATE. January 19B4 killed wild rabbit, squirrel or black hen rubbed on the infant's gums. Some mothers rub their baby's gums with a silver thimble, which isn’t so bad. Toothache Remedies North Carolina folklore includes numerous "remedies" for the tooth¬ aches of later years, such as picking an aching tooth with a splinter from a lightning-blasted tree, then throwing the toothpick into a stream so the ache will lx- borne far away. Some claim you could be expected to rid yourself of the toothache if you "drink after a horse." Or "wash be¬ hind your ears." In the old days the toothache suf¬ ferer wasn't told to "bite the bullet" but to carry a bullet in his pocket. Wearing a finger ring made of lead or pewter was also believed to ward off toothache. A nail driven into an oak tree at the same height as the aching tooth was believed to stop the pain. Some persons have been known to stop a tooth from aching by filling the cavity with baking powder or putting a teaspoonsul of salt on the tooth, then closing the mouth and keeping it shut until the pain was gone. The cavity may lx- filled with pepper; red pepper is preferred, but black w ill do. Holding a hot raisin on the aching tooth has also been recommended. Other persons have used the fat of a gray squirrel for toothache. Still others have filled the cavity with a spider web and even with wax from theii own ears. Salt, tobacco, wood ashes and vin¬ egar heated together and used as a poultice on the side of the face is claimed to be good for toothache. A charm to cure toothache is made by taking "an eyelash, hair from the eyebrow, trimmings from fingernails and toenails, then boring a hole in an oak tree and put the mixture in it. then close the hole with a wooden peg." The sufferer must not know the loca¬ tion of the tree or the charm w ill not work. An old recipe for a "tonic" to relieve toothache calls for "making a small amount of wine from pokeberries and mixing it with eight parts of corn whis¬ key. then taking a tcaspoonful or two a couple of times a day." Pain-Killing Plants More than 1 400 plants with reputed medical use grow in North Carolina. Of the botanicals used to relieve tooth¬ ache one of the most popular, probably because it’s generally the most readily available, has been dogwood root cut into small pieces and boiled for I0 min¬ utes or so. The patient holds this liquid Two different specie» of tree» grown in North Coro- lino ore commonly known ot "toothoche tree." Thu is Xanthoxylum omcriconum. which grows up to 25 feet or more ond ho» spiny protuberonce» olong the trunk — olto known ot ftkkly A»h (See ol»o THE STATE, Vol. 39. No 24 Photo by Mitchell Jenk.iw ) 37