Clove oil is generally not recommended during pregnancy, especially in concentrated or medicinal amounts. While small quantities of clove used as a cooking spice are considered safe, the essential oil contains high concentrations of eugenol, a compound that can slow blood clotting and may pose risks to both mother and baby when used therapeutically.
Why Clove Oil Raises Concerns in Pregnancy
The active compound in clove oil, eugenol, makes up roughly 70 to 90 percent of the oil. At the concentrations found in essential oil, eugenol acts as a blood thinner by slowing the clotting process. This is a particular concern during pregnancy because your body needs reliable clotting ability for delivery, whether vaginal or cesarean. Using clove oil regularly could increase the risk of excessive bleeding during labor or postpartum.
Eugenol also has a measurable effect on blood vessels in the uterus. Research on uterine arteries has shown that eugenol causes blood vessels to relax and widen, with a stronger effect in pregnant animals than non-pregnant ones. While scientists have explored this property as a potential treatment for pregnancy-related high blood pressure, that same vascular activity is exactly why using clove oil on your own during pregnancy is risky. It could influence blood flow to the uterus in ways that haven’t been studied well enough to establish safe parameters.
Cooking Spice vs. Essential Oil
There’s an important distinction between clove as a spice and clove essential oil. A pinch of ground cloves in a curry, baked goods, or chai tea delivers a tiny amount of eugenol. This food-level exposure is not associated with harm during pregnancy and is widely considered safe.
Clove essential oil is a different story. It’s a concentrated extract, and even a few drops contain far more eugenol than you’d get from an entire jar of ground cloves used over weeks of cooking. The jump in concentration is what shifts clove from harmless seasoning to something with real pharmacological effects. Ingesting large amounts of clove oil (in the range of 10 to 30 milliliters) has been linked to serious toxicity in anyone, including seizures, coma, and liver damage within hours. You’re unlikely to accidentally drink that much, but it illustrates how potent the concentrated oil is compared to the spice.
At therapeutic doses well below the toxic range, eugenol has few side effects in the general population beyond local irritation and occasional allergic reactions. But “few side effects” in a non-pregnant person doesn’t automatically translate to safety during pregnancy, and there simply isn’t enough reliable research to define a safe medicinal dose for pregnant women.
Clove Oil for Toothache During Pregnancy
Toothaches are one of the most common reasons people reach for clove oil, and dental pain during pregnancy is frustratingly common due to hormonal changes that affect your gums. Despite clove oil being a popular home remedy for tooth pain, most health sources advise pregnant women to avoid it even for topical dental use.
The concern with topical application in the mouth is that the tissue inside your cheeks and gums is highly absorbent. Even if you don’t swallow the oil, eugenol can enter your bloodstream through the oral mucosa. The amount absorbed this way is small, but combined with the lack of pregnancy-specific safety data, the general guidance is to skip it.
If you’re dealing with a toothache during pregnancy, safer alternatives include rinsing with warm salt water, applying a cold compress to the outside of your cheek, and seeing a dentist. Dental care during pregnancy is safe, and most dentists are comfortable treating pregnant patients with appropriate local anesthetics.
Blood Thinning and Surgical Risks
The anticoagulant effect of eugenol deserves extra attention if you’re approaching your due date or have a scheduled cesarean. General guidance for anyone planning surgery is to stop using clove products at least two weeks beforehand to allow normal clotting function to return. If you’re taking any blood-thinning medication, combining it with clove oil could further increase your risk of bruising and bleeding.
Some pregnancy complications, such as placenta previa or a history of postpartum hemorrhage, make the blood-thinning effect of eugenol especially concerning. If you have a bleeding disorder or are on anticoagulant therapy during pregnancy, even occasional use of clove oil could compound your risk.
What About Aromatherapy and Topical Skin Use?
Inhaling clove oil through a diffuser exposes you to much less eugenol than ingesting it, but it’s not zero exposure. Some aromatherapists recommend avoiding clove oil entirely during the first trimester, when the risk of disrupting early development is highest, and using it only sparingly later in pregnancy if at all. If you do choose to diffuse it, keep sessions short and the room well ventilated.
Applying diluted clove oil to the skin (for muscle aches, for example) poses a lower risk than oral use, but eugenol still absorbs through the skin. Diluting it heavily in a carrier oil like coconut or jojoba reduces the concentration, though the same caution applies: safety data for pregnant women is lacking, so most practitioners err on the side of avoidance.
The Bottom Line on Dosage
No established safe dose of clove essential oil exists for pregnant women. The broad consensus from medical and pharmacological sources is straightforward: clove in food amounts is fine, but medicinal or therapeutic amounts of clove oil should be avoided. This includes swallowing it, applying it inside the mouth, and using it undiluted on the skin. If you’ve already used a small amount of clove oil once or twice before learning this, that’s unlikely to have caused harm. The concern is with repeated or concentrated use over time.