Ear wax is produced to coat the ear canal, prevent cracks, protect against infection and to keep the dirt from getting into the ear drum. The wax exits the ear by moving to the outside where it can be wiped off by either a q-tip or a damp cloth. Some people produce to much ear wax and it may become to thick so in time it builds up, that is when it requires removal. The doctor can flush it out with water and a tube but if you leave it in the ear for to long it becomes dry and very difficult for your doctor to remove with water. There is a drop that you can get from him that will loosen the dry wax, but that will cost you money so instead of using the drop from the drug store you can use baby oil. What you do is once a day put a small drop of baby oil in the plugged up ear, tilt your head so the baby oil goes into the ear stay like that for a few seconds then with a q-tip gently wipe the ear. It will not go away the first time it will take a couple of times before it clears. They say that ear candles will also get rid of the build up, that is not true. When you use the ear candle you will see what looks like ear wax inside it but it isn't ear wax. I did a little test on this and I plugged up the candle so nothing can get thru and sure enough on the other side of where I plugged it was wax. Now, the candle was blocked, how did it get thru. It isn't ear wax that you see in the candle it is the inside of the candle melting. So the best thing to do when your ear is plugged with ear wax is baby oil. It is alot cheaper then the medication the doctor will suggest and alot less messy then the ear candle. The candle requires you to have someone there with you to make sure you don't burn yourself. I don't know about you but I don't want people to see the inside of my ears. Go with the baby oil, you can do it yourself. That is how to get rid of wax build up in your ear.