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Diseases of the Mouth, Gums and Teeth

Neue Artznei und Practicierbuchlin, Bock, 1551

The Mouth and Teeth are prone to inflammation, infections and Ulcers. In particular, chronic Gum disease and Dental problems were a great problem in the past due to general lack of health and cleanliness of the Teeth, especially by lower classes. However, many traditional texts stressed the importance of cleaning between the teeth after food and Tooth Powders have long been used in the West to cleanse and polish the Teeth.

Many cultures have the tradition of cleansing or picking the teeth with a twig picked from a certain tree. In India the Neem tree is used. A stick is picked, chewed a little to fray the end which is used to clean the teeth. The leaves, bark or twigs of the Bay tree were used similarly in Europe. Often the tree chosen will have useful antibacterial properties.

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Tooth Powders to Clean the Teeth

1. Take Bread Crumb and Pumice Stone, equal parts, burn together and use to brush the teeth. This is said to make then extremely white. (The Secrets of Alexis, 1615)
2. Pumice, Saltpeter, Myrrh (equal parts)
3. To make the Teeth white, rub the teeth with burnt Deer horn or burnt Goat horn. (Syrian "Book of Medicine", trans. by Wallis Budge, 1913)
  This is said to make the teeth very white and prevent them from rotting.
4. "To rub the Teeth and Gums every morning, and after meat too, if you please, with Salt, is the best way under the Sun to preserve the teeth sound and clean from rotting and aching" (Culpeper)
5. Cuttlefish bone
    Ginger
    Orris,                                equal parts
Used as a tooth powder, it cleanses and whitens the teeth, sweetens the breath and prevents blackness of the teeth. (Syrian "Book of Medicine", trans. by Wallis Budge, 1913)
6. A Typical more modern Tooth Powder:
    Precipitated Chalk          4 oz.
    Cuttlebone powder        2 oz.
    Orris root                           1 oz.
    Borax                                 half oz.
    Oil of Cloves                     5 drops
    Oil of Wintergreen          2 fluid drams  
Form a powder of the dry ingredients then mix in the oils. If a paste is desired, equal amounts of Honey, Glycerin and Gum Arabic mucilage can be added to form the desired consistency.
7. Yellow Teeth:
    Rye meal
    Salt
    Honey                                equal parts
Mix and rub the teeth with them twice daily, washing with water afterwards.
8. To Whiten the Teeth
Burn Goat horns, make a powder and rub the teeth with it. It whitens and strengthens the gums. (Alexis)

Tooth Powder to Whiten the Teeth (Wirtzung)


To Strengthen the Teeth and Gums
1. Vervain: chew the herb or root, or else boil in wine and vinegar and gargle
2. Cinquefoil root boiled in wine or vinegar and used as a mouthwash.
3. Hyssop boiled in wine and used as a mouthwash.
4. DENTRIFICE TO STRENGTHEN THE GUMS
    Burned deer horn          1 part
    Salt                                   1 part
    Yellow Myrobalan          1 part
    Pomegranate flower     ½ part
Powder and use to brush teeth and gums.


Loose Teeth and Spongy Gums
1. Infusion of Sorrel root in Vinegar held in the mouth.
2. Raisins infused in Wine, used as a gargle.
3. Pound Raisins, boil in Olive oil and rub the gums with it while warm; or hold it in the mouth. (Syrian 'Book of Medicine', Budge, 1913)
4. Salted Water of Pickled Olives held in the mouth.
5. Infusion of Willow Bark in Vinegar.
6. Alum mixed with Myrrh, applied to the gums.
7. Calamint infused in Vinegar as a gargle.
8. Apply powder Saltpeter to the gums.
9. Calamint, Pyrethrum, Pepper, and Galbanum mixed with Vinegar and applied to the gums. This also relieves Cold Toothache.


Bad Breath
1. Chewing Mastic can relieve bad breath
2. Myrtle leaf, Lentisk leaf (equal parts), half quantity of Galls; beat them, sprinkle with wine, and chewed (Pliny)
3. Ivy berries, Cassia, Myrrh (equal parts); mix with wine and chew or use as a mouthwash. (Pliny)
4. Aromaticum Rosatum


Toothache
1. a drop or 2 of Clove Oil is a time proven remedy. A whole Clove can also be placed over the affected gum.
2. A Sichuan Pepper is applied topically over the pain in Sichuan, China.
3. Root of Henbane chewed with vinegar, or Plantain juice mixed with vinegar (Pliny)
4. Juice of Scarlet Pimpernel is sniffed into the opposite nostril.
5. Boil shavings of Deer horn in water and hold the decoction in the mouth.
6. a small piece of Opium was applied to an open tooth or the gum, or else Tincture of Opium was used.
7. Boil Pepper, Pyrethrum and Pomegranate peel in vinegar, put in a little bag and lay it warm to the place.
8. For Toothache from caries, put a piece of Asafetida or Alum into the hole.
9. Put Borage juice in the ear the same side as the toothache and lye on the opposite side so the juice stays in. (Natura exenterata, Philatros, 1655)
10. Make small pills of equal parts of Borax and Pepper and hold on the aching tooth (Ayurveda)
11. Blue Vitriol, burnt Alum, mix and apply. (Ayurveda)
12. "A little gunpowder tied up in a rag, and held so in the mouth, that it may touch the aching tooth, instantly eases the pain of the tooth". (Culpeper)
13. Long Pepper
    White Pepper
    Cubeb
    Staphysacre
    Mulberry root bark
    Mandrake root-bark
    Capers root-bark
    Pellitory
    Henbane                        2 drams ea.
Bruise them and boil in 15 ounces of red wine down to half. Use to wash the aching tooth. (Secrets of Alexis)

Powder for Toothache (Galen)
Toothache Powder 7 (So snum bdun pa) (Tibetan)
Przewalskia 11 (Thang phrom bcu gchig) (Tibetan)


Tooth Cavities and Decay
1. Rinses of salt water after each meal cleanse food that will aggravate decay and cause pain.
2. Mastic has long been used in the West to fill cavities. It is anti-bacterial and forms a physical barrier to protect the tooth.
3. Place Asafetida in the hole.
4. Garlic, Clove or Sichuan Pepper, any one can be applied topically to the hole or gum under the tooth.
5. Take a head of Garlic peeled and crushed and apply half to each of the soles of the feet. This is most effective when the Toothache comes of a cold cause.
6. Toad venom can be put into a hollow tooth
7. 'Take an ordinary earthworm, and dry it into a powder, take of that powder, and put it into the Tooth when you go to bed, and put wax upon the Tooth to keep it in, and by morning the corrupt part of the tooth will waste away, and the good will remain.' (Natura exenterata, Philatros, 1655)

Powder for Bad Breath from Rotting Teeth 


To Remove a Tooth
Burn Worms to ashes, then put some of the ashes into a hollow and painful Tooth and cover with Wax. The tooth is said to easily fall out without pain. (Secrets of Alexis)
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Inflammation of the Gums
1. Beat Plantain leaf and apply
2. Decoction of Hyssop as a Mouthwash for putrid or sore gums


Receding Gums
1. Myrrh dissolved in Wine with Olive oil added; wash the gums with it twice daily.
2. Apply distilled water of Wild Mints


Loose Teeth and to Strengthen the Gums
1. Pound Raisins, boil in Olive oil and rub on the gums while hot, and hold in the mouth.

Powder to Strengthen the Teeth (Galen)


Rotten and Sponginess of the Gums

Vinegar of Squill


Abscesses of the Gums, Gum Boils
Bleed the Head Vein, or under the Tongue
Apply cups to the Shoulders or back of the Neck
Purge the head with Pil. Cochia etc.

1. Plantain seed (Pliny)
2. Swollen, painful gums, beat Rue with Honey and Salt and apply.
3. Gum abscess, wash the mouth often with Honey of Roses (3 parts), Vinegar (1 part)
4. Rinse the mouth often with water that has Alum, Salt or Myrrh in it.
5. Rub Egyptian Ungent on (don't swallow any)
6. To heal and dry, Rose, Cypress nuts, Galls, burnt Alum (equal parts), boil in Vinegar and Water, strain, add Honey and use as a mouth wash.


Sores, Ulcers, Boils of the Mouth
1. Mouth Ulcers or Gums Boils, apply powder of Myrrh, Gall and Frankincense bark (or Gum) mixed with Honey (Avicenna)
2. Running and Foul Ulcer of the Lips: washed Aloes 0.5 oz., Salt prepared 2 drams, Honey 4 oz. Mix and apply.
3. Inflamed mouth, Tabasheer, Starch, Saffron, Chebula, Alum, Aloes, Rhubarb (powder, mix with Honey water and gargle). (Syrian "Book of Medicine", trans. by Wallis Budge, 1913)
4. Bull's tongue is burnt to powder and applied topically. It has been 'well tried'. (Syrian "Book of Medicine", trans. by Wallis Budge, 1913)

Sores, Ulcers, Boils of the Mouth and Gums:

From Toxic Heat
Liu Shen Wan
Dian She Wan


Toothache
Heat
Yu Nu Jian
Qing Wei San

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Special Formulas

Toothache Pill Ya Tong Yi Li Wan
    Toad Venom                    24 grams
    Cinnabar                             5 grams
    Realgar                               6 grams
    Licorice                             24 grams
Toothache from Tooth caries. Make small water pills to be sucked, making sure to spit out the saliva and avoid swallowing. A hollow tooth can be filled with the pill. (Chinese Pharmacopoeia)