Myrrh

If You Read Nothing Else

Myrrh is bitter, hardened tree sap — a resin.

It tightens and dries tissue, which is why it suits weeping sores rather than dry ones.

Never take myrrh by mouth in pregnancy — it can stimulate the womb.

Getting to Know Myrrh

Think of myrrh as frankincense's darker cousin. Frankincense is sweet and golden, while myrrh is bitter, red-brown and astringent — it tightens the tissue it touches. That helps explain why almost every traditional use is on the body's surface: a wash for a sore mouth, a dab on an ulcer, a rinse for swollen gums, or a dressing for a wound. You'll still find myrrh in modern mouthwashes and gum tinctures (a liquid extract made with alcohol) for the same reason, and it remains an approved ingredient for mouth and throat inflammation in European herbal practice.

Known to botanists as Commiphora myrrha.

Why It Matters

A mouth ulcer or an angry gum may sound small, but it can ruin your week. Myrrh is one of the oldest, simplest answers to that problem, and you'll still find it in pharmacy mouthwashes today. It's a useful reminder that a remedy doesn't have to be swallowed or grand to help.

Gums can become more fragile with age, while dentures, dry mouth and medicines can all make sore spots more likely. A dilute myrrh rinse offers a cheap, traditional comfort for exactly that. It doesn't replace dental care — it may simply make the wait for an appointment easier.

Soothes inflamed gums and mouth ulcers (long-standing clinical use in mouth rinses).

Mildly numbing on contact with sore tissue.

The Plant Itself

Myrrh is the dried sap of a small, thorny desert tree that grows in Somalia, Ethiopia and southern Arabia. The sap oozes out through cracks in the bark and hardens into reddish-brown lumps. Unlike frankincense, myrrh is bitter — sharply so. That bitterness is the whole point of it in traditional medicine.

Family: Burseraceae (torchwood family).

What It Contains

Furanoeudesma-1,3-diene — a compound shown in laboratory work to act on opioid receptors, which may explain the numbing feel.

Commiphoric acids are the resin fraction responsible for the astringent (tightens tissue and leaves a dry feeling in the mouth), tissue-tightening effect.

Sesquiterpenes: aromatic oils that give myrrh its bitter, smoky smell.

Gum polysaccharides are the water-soluble part that forms a soothing film on sore tissue.

In the Laboratory

From laboratory work, not from people taking it

A 2026 systematic review (a careful summary of all the studies on a question) found myrrh strongly antimicrobial (slows the growth of germs) in lab studies. Pooled randomized trials showed a small reduction in plaque but no significant effect on gum inflammation or healing.

Preparation and Kitchen Use

Tooth powder is powdered myrrh blended with salt and used sparingly on the gums.

In the kitchen: incense blend: myrrh and frankincense together on charcoal. Gargle: the same dilution, gargled and spat out — don't swallow. Incense: a small lump on charcoal, usually blended with frankincense. Gargle a weak dilution for a raw, scratchy throat. Burn it with frankincense for a deeper, resinous, slightly bitter incense.

Extracts, Capsules and Concentrates

Capsules and standardised extracts carry many times the amount you get from food, which is why the cautions below matter more here.

Tincture (a liquid extract made with alcohol): resin steeped in strong alcohol for several weeks. The standard form for mouth use.

Dilute myrrh tincture (a liquid extract made with alcohol) in a little warm water and rinse the mouth for sore gums.

Direct dab: one drop of diluted tincture (a liquid extract made with alcohol) on a cotton bud, applied to an ulcer.

Who Should Be Careful

Traditional Persian Perspective

Persian and Greek medicine both describe myrrh as warm, dry and strongly drying. People used it to close wounds, dry weeping sores, settle the gums, and — taken internally in tiny amounts — bring on a late menstrual period. That last use is exactly why classical texts also warn against giving it to a pregnant woman.

It was used: raw, inflamed throat. Wounds that weep and won't close.

In the Household

Late or scanty menstruation (classical use, not recommended today without guidance).

Myrrh belongs to the oldest layer of trade and ritual across the Middle East. It was one of the three gifts in the Christian nativity, an Egyptian embalming resin, and a familiar sight on Persian apothecary shelves. Because it was costly and rarely needed in bulk, shops usually kept only a small amount.

Questions People Ask

Can I swallow myrrh tincture?

No. Its traditional and modern use is a rinse or a dab. Swallowing concentrated tincture (a liquid extract made with alcohol) is unnecessary and risky, especially in pregnancy or with diabetes medicine.

Why does it taste so bitter?

The bitterness comes from the resin acids. That same fraction is what tightens and dries sore tissue, so the taste and the effect come from the same place.

Sources

Commiphora myrrha: a review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology — Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

Community herbal monograph on Commiphora molmol, gummi-resina — European Medicines Agency (HMPC).

Avicenna, The Canon of Medicine — Book II, murr — Classical Persian medicine.