So, far it has worked for me . I bought it , because a piece of chip cut my gum & it got swollen . And it was even causing jaw pain & ear pain. When I got the charcoal powder it worked very good by the next day the swelling was reduced by a lot. The only bad thing I used to much powder it made my teeth black .it takes alot of rinsing & alot of rinsing of my toothbrush. Just rinse as much as you can out & rinse off toothbrush, because you will need it to take off what is left on teeth & gum line . I gave up on it ,because of the messiness, but I shouldn't have ,because my gum situation didn't get better 100%and it is bothering me again. So, I will start back up till it gets all the way better