Oil of clove, also known as clove oil or eugenol, is an essential oil extracted from the clove plant, Syzygium aromaticum. Clove oil is commonly used in aromatherapy and for flavoring food, tea, and toothpaste. In alternative medicine, it may be used as a topical medication to relieve toothache. There is insufficient medical evidence to support its use as an analgesic for treating pain. Madagascar and Indonesia are the main producers of clove oil.

Types and phytochemicals

There are three types of clove oil: Distilled clove oil from buds contains mixed phytochemicals, including as main constituents phenylpropanoids (primarily eugenol), carvacrol, thymol, and cinnamaldehyde, with smaller quantities of polyphenols, carbohydrates, lipids, oleanolic acid, and rhamnetin.

Human health

Toxicity

Clove oil is toxic in anything other than small therapeutic doses, and several cases of acute liver and kidney damage have been reported, principally in children. In foods, the level of clove oil used as a flavor ingredient does not exceed 0.06%, and is considered safe.

Toothache

Particularly in South Korea and India, eugenol, an aromatic compound extracted from clove oil, is used in alternative medicine to relieve toothache. Applied to a cavity in a decayed tooth or tooth socket remaining after extraction, eugenol or clove oil may relieve toothache temporarily. There is insufficient scientific evidence that eugenol is effective for treating dental pain.

Other uses

Eugenol is a reliable source for producing natural vanillin (by the US definition). It is a versatile molecule, which can be converted to vanillin with a few simple steps of conversion through the use of naturally available phytochemicals. Clove oil is commonly used to anesthetize or euthanize laboratory or pet fish. Clove oil is a component of choji oil, which was traditionally used for the maintenance of Japanese swords.

Regulation

In Germany, Commission E permits the sale and administration of clove oil for use in alternative medicine.