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Forget About Shots, Allergy Sufferers Can Now Find Relief In Toothpaste

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- If you have bad allergies you've probably been told that allergy shots are the best way to get relief.

But most people don't like needles, and going to the doctor for a shot every week can be time consuming.

As CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez explained, there is a new way to treat your allergies, and it's toothpaste. Not just any toothpaste, but a custom blended toothpaste with the same extracts that are in allergy shots.

It turns out the mucus membranes of the mouth are a really good way to show allergens to the immune system so it stops over reacting to things like pollen or mold.

Daniel Siefring is a year round allergy sufferer. He reacts to pollen and lots of other things too.

"I have pretty high sensitivity to dust mites, mold, cats, trees, and cockroaches. They were severe and I would have pretty bad congestion, constant post nasal drip, I'd get headaches," he said.

Siefring tried allergy shots, but they were inconvenient. Then he switched to oral allergy treatments -- drops under the tongue that he had to hold there for two full minutes, something that many patients forget to do consistently.

"It's an additional thing in your routine, putting drops onto your tongue and doing nothing for two minutes and it has been found that adherence to the therapy and consistent usage is really the key to getting great results from this therapy," Dr. William Reisacher explained.

It turns out you can add the same allergens in drops to toothpaste.

Reisacher, an allergy specialist, compared the two approaches in a recently published study and found that they produced similar allergy relief, but that toothpaste was used more consistently.

"It's commercial grade toothpaste, so it's able to freshen your breath, it's able to clean your teeth, it can even be customized to have fluoride in it so it can help fight cavities,"  he explained.

The prescription kit is completely customized, the doctor or pharmacy adds in exactly what you're allergic to, blends it into the toothpaste, and puts it into a handy pump.

Now, Siefring treats his allergies with his usual morning routine, and no the paste doesn't taste like cat, mold, or pollen.

"It tastes good. It was a pleasant mint flavor to the toothpaste," he said.

Users have to brush for two minutes, which is what dentists recommend anyway.

Unfortunately, the toothpaste is not covered by health insurance. The cost works out to about $3 to $5 a day, so skipping the mocha frappucino in the morning could make your miserable allergy symptoms get better.

 

 

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