Bitter tooth

My step-dad told me this one, recounting London’s East End of the inter-war years. His grand-mother, an immigrant from Poland to Whitechapel, used to tackle tooth-ache with tobacco. She took the evil weed from his aunt’s ciggie and applied it directly to the gum and tooth. 70 years on, he remembers the bitter taste and ascribes his life-long avoidance of smoking to that experience. So, whilst no doubt it’s not a practice that would be recommended these days given what we know about tobacco, it actually had a life-long health benefit.