Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
Eugenol is a substance found in cloves. In addition to the distinct aroma of cloves, it's responsible for the numbness that clove oil can induce (dentists often swab your gums with it before giving you an injection of novocaine or lidocaine):
Sharp readers will notice the similarity to vanillin. The aromatic nucleus behind both these molecules is guaiacol.
Eugenol is one of those natural products that is sufficiently abundant it can be recovered by steam distillation (PDF).
Comments
Is it safe?
Posted by: Glenn Branch | October 4, 2006 8:01 PM
Safe beyond the relatively rare allergy, as far as I know. It has a long tradition of use as an anaesthetic (and is found in many OTC preps, as either eugenol, or "clove oil").
Posted by: MoTD | October 4, 2006 8:56 PM
MoTD, "Is it safe?" was Laurence Olivier's question in Marathon Man in the role of the Nazi dentist torturing Dustin Hoffman by drilling his teeth and using Oil of Cloves to stop the pain... one of the great movie villains and an excellent William Goldman movie. It was also the first thing that came into my mind when I saw Oil of Cloves along with a shiver. Recommended movie.
Posted by: Markk | October 4, 2006 10:01 PM
About thirty years ago, my dentist placed a clove oil pack in my mouth after a particularly painful procedure. I already had a mild dislike of cloves (they were my mother's favorite spice and perhaps my least favorite). It quickly became a strong dislike. I'll eat things with cloves in them, but it's one of the few ground spices that I never actually buy or use at home.
My husband also attempted to settle down a toothache with clove oil while awaiting a dental appointment. He used the clove oil full strength and wound up with a burn on his gums that was more painful than the toothache.
Posted by: Julie Stahlhut | October 5, 2006 10:26 AM
I've seen in the literature eugenol being used as both an attractant for some species of spiders and a repellant for others. I wonder if its similarity to neurotransmitters is the reason.
One of my Indian colleagues chews cloves now and then, once when I was working with eugenol. Alhough I knew what was going on, was disturbing to have a friend with breath like a compound I was using.
Posted by: Dave Eaton
| October 16, 2006 7:30 PM
ho is eugenol relif the dental pain i mean what is the mechanism of action
Posted by: jalal jafar | December 21, 2006 5:51 AM
i'm going to go and suck on a bag of cloves... can I expect to get high?
Posted by: bDubL | March 8, 2007 12:19 AM
eugenol is the main constitutent in the ocimum sanctum( holy basil).
Posted by: lalit kumar | February 8, 2008 12:14 PM
Four of my friends had uterus cancer operation. All of them look like 25/30 at real age 40/50. Two of them are working as technicians making dentures, one was working with some chemical. As I see some similarities,I\m trying to figure out what caused cancer and their young appereance. I smell eugenol in it as a main factor. Am I right?
Posted by: Aga | February 25, 2008 11:35 PM
Eugenol shares a chemical similarity to Capsaicin, which is the pungent constituent of chilli peppers that gives rise to the burning pain associated with eating chilli peppers. Believe it or not, despite the fact that clove oil is incorporated into many dental medicaments, its exact mechanism of action is still not known. Current scientific literature has suggested that Eugenol acts on Vanilloid receptor 1 (VR1), this is due to the fact that eugenol's mechanism of action is inhibited by capsazepine (VR1 antagonist). VR1 are the receptors located on nociceptors; these are the receptors that are responsible for pain sensation, thus blocking these receptors results in the inhibition of pain sensation.
A note to make on Eugenol is that it is associated with carcinogenicity due to structural similarity with alkenylbenzen.(classed as possible carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer). The eugenol derivative, methyleugenol has also been classed as highly carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The exact mechanism of Clove oil and its major constituents, Eugenol, methyleugenol and beta-carryophyllene are still under major scientific study.
Posted by: Edward Cheung | March 30, 2008 11:01 PM
Eugenol is quite safe.. Not only is it used by dentist as momentarily toothfilling (combined Zinkoxide)and local anaesthetics. Cloves has been used in China for hundreds of years and the region there about to cleanse teeth and to take away the pain in case of toothacne.. I tried some my self it didn't taste good at all but it did take away my bad morningsbreath and my toungue became a little numb.
Posted by: Tjalfe of Denmark | April 24, 2008 4:51 AM
base on my knowledge,it is safe and can help us in many ways.all things have theire own disadvantage so if your allergic in perfumes it is better not to use it.
Posted by: jonalyn lelis | October 29, 2008 3:57 AM
Is Eugenol a Therpen? Why? Thanks
Posted by: Robert | June 1, 2009 7:18 PM