How I Convinced My Husband To Use a Mud Pack

You know if anyone is going to get sick, it’s going to happen at 5:01pm on the eve of a three-day holiday weekend packed full of activities, right?

This is one of those weekends.

Jeff started hurting on Monday. It appeared to be his yearly winter-to-spring-season-change-can-the-pollen-get-any-worse sinus infection. One side of his face, above the top teeth.  The pain got more and more intense to the point it was keeping him awake and he’d pace the floor.  The pain would radiate.  He couldn’t concentrate. He was missing work- a red flag for knowing he’s in seriously bad shape.  This was looking bad since Jeff was scheduled to be in the Easter Cantata on Sunday and had final rehearsals on Saturday.

Battle of the Bulge

Come Friday he woke up and the roof of his mouth was bulging. It was the most unreal thing I had seen in a long time. We knew at that point that it was a dental abscess. On the outside of his gums, above his top teeth by his nose was a teeny, tiny white dot, the size of the period at the end of this sentence. So teeny it was very easy to miss.  The outside of his face was swollen up to his eye.  He couldn’t smile or move that side of his face.

Being the man that he is, he refused to do anything about it until that evening. The pain got so intense he agreed to let me call the dentist’s cell phone. He suggested to visit one of the emergy-care centers for a script for antibiotics since it was unlikely natural remedies would bring healing at that point. Pain killers, too. He was hesitant to prescribe over the phone since we didn’t know for sure it was a dental infection since it had not outleted yet.  I took those suggestions seriously since he’s a natural-minded, biologic dentist who takes a very conservative approach.  We trust him, he does dental work on all of our family, he removed my mercury fillings and we drive a long ways to see him.

So I looked up the emergy-care centers, to realize that they had all closed just a few minutes ago.

It was going to be a LONG night.

Jeff finally agreed to let me pack his gums in an attempt to keep us out of the (very expensive) ER.  I made a mix of about 1/2 Tbs pascalite clay, 1 drop of clove oil and just enough colloidal silver to form a paste.  I allowed the paste to sit a few minutes for the clay to absorb the fluid, then I rolled a tiny piece into a ball and pressed it flat.  I cut a cotton ball into six pieces and I put the little piece of clay over the white dot on his gum and put the cotton over the clay, to help hold it in place.  He was awake all night, and changed it every couple of hours.

In two hours, that dot began to swell and become bright red.  We made a bigger ball of clay and covered it again.  Four hours after the first application, you could see infection coming to the surface.  Nine hours after the first application, it had drawn a massive amount of infection of the surface and was streaking white down to the affected tooth.  Jeff finally got major relief when it drained and the swelling began to go down rapidly a little after nine hours from the first application of clay. That was early Saturday morning.  The pain and swelling continued to decrease as the day went on.  Four hours after it drained, he felt fine and it was only mildly tender.  He was able to eat, drink and sleep once again with no trouble.

He went to the emergy-care center when they opened Saturday.  It turns out they wouldn’t even see him because it was a dental issue.  The only place in town that handles dental emergencies was closed until Tuesday.  So I called the dentist back and we got arrangements made to get him on antibiotics.  I am SO glad we were able to draw the infection out and get him some relief. Had we not, he likely would have had to suffer severely until Tuesday when everyone re-opened.

How Does It Work?

Pascalite clay draws out infection.  According to the Pascalite website about how clay works:

Simply stated, clay draws. The natural tendency of clay is to absorb toxins.  It sucks poison from its environment. Clay has the power to attract and stimulate the evacuation of toxic and non-useful elements. It is known that clay possesses both absorbent and adsorbent powers: absorption of the impurities in the tissues, adsorption by pulling out the impurities in body liquids and eliminating them. Clay acts with wisdom; no matter in what manner absorbed, clay goes to the unhealthy place, where it lodges, perhaps for several days, until it draws out the impurities (or pus, black blood, etc.) with its evacuation. Clay appears to have the ability to know where to center itself to provide the best benefit.

I used clay as part of my gut healing protocol when I was trying to heal my leaky gut, get over the celiac and get rid of my myriad of food intolerances.  It worked beautifully for that application.  I still keep a small supply on hand now to use if I get exposed to gluten accidentally.  It is a very useful aid in preventing my reaction from being severe.  Now I will not hesitate to use it in external applications where infection needs to be drawn out.  Digestive clays other than pascalite would likely be effective for this job as well.

Colloidal silver acts as an anti-infective.  If you place a silver coin into a container of water, it prevents bacteria from growing in the water.  In years past, the rich used silver spoons to feed their children, recognizing the health properties tiny amounts of silver had.   Silver was commonly used by people who could afford it to ward off plagues and other contagious diseases.

Currently, you can buy Curad silver-laced bandages at the drugstore.  Other companies produce silver-laced bandages for use in a hospital setting.  A number of studies about the use of silver in wound healing and preventing infection are under way or already published.  Science Daily even has an article about it.

Colloidal silver is controversial.  We only use it as a big gun when we need quick, immediate relief.  We consider it safe when used only when absolutely necessary, from a reputable source, at a dosage of 10ppm.  It kills all bacteria, both good and bad.  It works much in the same way as antibiotics- it should be respected and only used when necessary, with the right precautions to repopulate the beneficial bacteria in the body. Some people have turned blue from long-term internal use of it in very large amounts.

Disclaimer:  This is not medical advice.  I’m just a mom telling you what we do in our own family and what worked for us in our particular circumstance.  I am neither a doctor nor a dentist.  Please do your own research before using any of the above products.  I will receive a very small commission if you make a first-time purchase from iherb using the links above.

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KerryAnn Foster runs Cooking Traditional Foods, the longest running Traditional Foods Menu Mailer on the internet. KerryAnn has ten years of traditional foods experience and is a former Weston A. Price Foundation chapter leader.  Read about KerryAnn’s journey to health through multiple miscarriages, celiac disease, food allergies and intolerances, obesity, adrenal fatigue and heavy metals.

Founded in 2005, CTF helps you feed your family nourishing foods they will love.  With two choices of Menu Mailers, multiple eBooks, Print Books and a Gluten and Dairy-Free Traditional Foods eCourse, KerryAnn makes traditional foods easy, accessible, affordable and family friendly for everyone.

KerryAnn founded Nourished Living Network, a network for traditional food and natural living bloggers, in 2011. NLN provides support, publicity and networking opportunities for bloggers all across the traditional foods spectrum. Our Recipe Gallery features recipes from the twenty-four member blogs and growing.