Clove Oil Liquid

Clove is one of the few remedies where the traditional record and the products on the shelf still match, but choosing the right form matters. These are the questions our naturopaths ask in store.

A good fit if

• You want short-term relief for an aching tooth while you wait for a dental appointment
• You're buying clove bud oil rather than leaf or stem oil, and you'll put it on the tooth
• You cook with it and want a jar that still has its flavour
• You're comfortable with a traditional-use basis rather than settled science

Check with us first if

• You take warfarin, aspirin, clopidogrel or any other blood thinner. In the lab, clove oil stops platelets clumping together, and it may add to bleeding risk.
• You have surgery or a tooth extraction coming up, for the same reason. Tell your surgeon or dentist as well.
• You take phenytoin for epilepsy. Clove may falsely raise measured phenytoin levels, which could lead to the wrong dose being chosen.
• Your skin reacts to fragrances or essential oils. Clove is a known skin sensitiser, and reactions mostly come from undiluted or high-strength oil.
• You were planning to put it on your gum. The European guidance is to apply the oil to the tooth and avoid your gum, because concentrated clove oil irritates the lining of your mouth.

• Whole dried clove bud (Schedule 1 item 1487). Best known for: Cooking, and the traditional digestive decoction. Absorption: No Schedule 1 conditions at all. No warnings, no container rules. Typical use: The spice itself, with 15 to 17% volatile oil still locked inside the bud.
• Ground clove powder (item 1490). Best known for: Baking, and encapsulated digestive formulas. Absorption: Also unconditional in Schedule 1. Typical use: Same material, more surface area, so the oil goes off faster. It's the form most people buy and the one with no human trial.
• Clove bud oil (item 1486). Best known for: Tooth and mouth use. The form the evidence sits on. Absorption: Steam-distilled from the dried bud, eugenol 75 to 88%. Typical use: The preparation named in the EU traditional monograph. Above 25% total clove oils it must carry 'Not to be taken'.
• Clove leaf oil and clove stem oil (items 1488 and 1491). Best known for: Aroma and flavour. Absorption: Distilled from leaf or stem, with a different minor-constituent profile. Typical use: Cheaper and harsher. Neither has a traditional monograph or a human trial behind it, and the 25% cap counts all three oils together.
• Clove extract mouth rinse. Best known for: Plaque and gum research. Absorption: An aqueous extract rather than an oil. Typical use: A 6.66% rinse was tested twice daily for five days in ventilated hospital patients, against chlorhexidine. That's a clinical setting, not a shelf product.
• Standardised polyphenol bud extract. Best known for: The antioxidant work, which is one small trial. Absorption: Water-soluble powder, standardised on polyphenols rather than oil. Typical use: 250 mg a day in a 16-person crossover. Different chemistry from clove oil, one branded ingredient, one research group.
• Isolated eugenol (item 2149). Best known for: Dental cements and flavouring. Absorption: The dominant clove compound, purified out. Typical use: Can't be an active in an Australian listed medicine, and oral products cap it at 0.06% of the formulation.
• Clove oil terpenes (item 1489). Best known for: Flavour only. Absorption: A terpene fraction, not the whole oil. Typical use: Permitted only in combination with other ingredients as a flavour, with total flavour no more than 5%.

Reference values. There's no recommended intake for clove. It's a spice and a herb rather than a nutrient, so the NHMRC values don't cover it.

Typical supplemental range. The traditional European directions are written for the oil, not a capsule. For the mouth: 'Mouth washes corresponding to 1–5% essential oil. Apply several times daily.' For a tooth: 'Undiluted essential oil or solutions in a strength of minimum 50% or gels in a strength of 20%. Repeat administration after 20 minutes, then every 2 hours if necessary.' The only swallowed dose tested in people is 250 mg a day of a standardised polyphenol bud extract, in a trial of 16 men.

Upper level. Both traditional European uses carry the same limit: 'Not to be used for more than 1 week'. Australia limits the product rather than the dose. Above 25% total clove oils, the container must hold no more than 25 mL and have a restricted flow insert, and clove oil for use in the mouth 'may not contain more than 5 millilitres of the oil or distillate' at no more than 25%.

Worth knowing. Clove in cooking is food, and none of the medicine rules apply. If you're using the oil, put it on the tooth, not the gum, and for no more than a week. What you need depends on your age, diet and health, so talk to one of our naturopaths.

Food first, where the diet allows it.

• Whole buds in slow cooking: stocks, curries, braises, mulled drinks: A few buds to a pot. The dried bud runs 15 to 17% essential oil
• Ground clove in baking: gingerbread is the traditional European use of the spice
• A decoction of the bud: the traditional European preparation for dyspeptic complaints, flatulence and diarrhoea
• Clove tincture: very dilute next to the oil: about 0.039% eugenol

This list is the part of the page we will not shorten. If any of it applies to you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before starting.

• Swallowed clove oil is the serious risk, and it's a child-safety problem above all. A 7-month-old who ingested one teaspoon developed CNS depression, metabolic acidosis, proteinuria and ketonuria and spent four days in hospital. Two 2-year-old boys who each drank 5 to 10 mL went into deep coma with severe acidosis, generalised seizures, severely impaired liver function and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. All three recovered. Keep clove oil out of reach.
• Anticoagulant and antiplatelet medicines. Warfarin, aspirin, clopidogrel and the rest. Clove oil inhibited platelet aggregation in vitro against arachidonic acid, epinephrine and collagen, and the antiplatelet effect may increase bleeding risk alongside those medicines. Refer to the prescriber.
• Surgery and dental extraction. The same antiplatelet finding applies. Stop well beforehand and tell the surgeon.
• Phenytoin. Clove may result in a false increase in measured phenytoin levels, which is a laboratory-interference problem that can drive a wrong dose decision.
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding. Safety during pregnancy and lactation has not been established, and in the absence of sufficient data use is not recommended.
• Children and adolescents under 18. Use has not been established due to lack of adequate data.
• Peru balsam allergy. A stated contraindication, alongside hypersensitivity to the active substance itself. People sensitised to Peru balsam reacted at concentrations above 0.12% in petrolatum.
• Contact allergy. Clove is one of nine essential oils showing over 2% positive patch-test reactions in dermatitis patients, with frequent co-reactivity to the fragrance mix. Most reactions follow pure oils or high-concentration products, and neat clove oil is treated as irritant to skin, eyes and the respiratory tract as well as a skin sensitiser.
• Mucosal irritation. In concentrated form clove oil may irritate mucosal tissue, which is why the monograph applies it to the tooth and directs avoiding the gum.
• Duration. 'Not to be used for more than 1 week' applies to both European traditional indications.
• Epilepsy. Essential oils as a class contain both anticonvulsant and convulsant members. Clove and eugenol sit in the anticonvulsant candidate group, but no human trial settles the direction. Refer.