Researchers said a new anesthetic gel made from a plant found in the jungles of the rainforest could replace a dentist’s needle and relieve patients from their phobia of injections.
It is noteworthy that the primitive tribes in the Peruvian Amazon region discovered the enormous analgesic properties of the “Acmella oleracea” plant centuries ago, and the Inca tribes used it to treat toothache, ulcers and abscesses, and to clean their teeth.
A researcher from the University of Cambridge says that this treatment could revolutionize Western dental surgery.
Dr. Françoise-Barbera Friedman became the first Westerner to be welcomed into the secretive Kabyle community in 1975 and has spent thirty years living with and visiting them.
Friedman said that the plant, which works by paralyzing nerve endings to provide an anesthetic effect that lasts more than an hour, has proven successful in early clinical trials without apparent side effects and had positive feedback from patients.
The substance extracted from this plant can be marketed at the beginning of 2014 as a natural alternative to narcotic analgesics such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
It is worth noting that the gel is made from this plant, a yellow flowering herb native to the Peruvian Amazon. It was brought to South Asia by sailors in the 18th and 19th centuries under the name “toothache plant”.
Friedman said that this plant heralded great success in what is known as root scaling and root planing and can be used to reduce teething pain in children, which has no natural alternative, in addition to a group of other conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome.
Treating this toothache, she added, means getting to the end of some dental surgery injections.
