Cayce's Strategies for Keeping Your Teeth
Keeping our teeth healthy should be a primary concern, but the conventional advice for oral hygiene is not especially helpful: by the age of 65 a significant percentage of the population have no natural teeth remaining.
I reluctantly go to the dentist once a year for a cleaning, as I do get plaque in spite of my oral hygiene regimen. On reconsidering the Cayce Readings, this is certainly because my 'superficial circulation' is not yet optimal (reading below).
My last email was about making your own version of Ipsab, Cayce’s liquid preparation of toothache bark (Prickly Ash Bark) to maintain and restore gum health. This product is created by boiling Prickly Ash Bark in seawater, then adding iodine and other ingredients - visit the link for Cayce's instructions.
One of you responded with some sources for herbs:
HerbCo has ground Prickly Ash Bark @ 20.00/lb. You can also get the bark on Etsy, plus others.
This is a much better price than Starwest-Botanicals.com, which sells prickly ash bark for $56-$65/pound. (Thanks for the tip!)
Edgar Cayce's Strategies for Oral Health
The standard Cayce-recommended 'dentifrice' ("powder, paste, or liquid for cleaning the teeth") was equal parts salt and baking soda. Baking soda neutralizes the acids that dissolve our tooth enamel, and salt helps stimulate saliva production.
(There’s been a revolution in taking care of our teeth in the years since Edgar Cayce passed away in 1945, using a 1960’s innovation in taking care of wounded soldiers. I was developing sensitive spots on my teeth, even though I was using the salt & baking soda religiously. This new product worked better than any other product I’ve tried. Scroll to the end for the product names and a few links.)
Cayce was often asked about how to best take care of our teeth. This was reading was for a woman who'd noticed her teeth were weakening:
TEXT OF READING 574-1 F ADULT
24. (Q) What must I do to preserve my teeth?
(A) Stimulate the circulation so that all portions of the body, as indicated, may have an equal circulation; as TO the heart and as FROM the heart. For, the teeth are in the greater part of the superficial circulation, you see. Hence, when we have a balanced circulation, these are improved.25. (Q) Are my gums diseased?
(A) As we find, use properties that are of an antiseptic nature to prevent accumulation of any infectious forces; such as Ipsab, which makes for healthier gums.In this particular body the greater distress is elsewhere; and the condition with the teeth is an effect, NOT a cause, though the local application will be helpful in stimulating and equalizing circulation to this portion of the body. This we would use about twice or three times each week. Don't just massage it once and leave it alone. Massage it for at least a minute or a minute and a half, three times a week; massaging the gum thoroughly with the Ipsab solution. Then rinse the mouth with same. This is not to take the place, of course, of any dentrifice that may be used; but this with equal parts salt and soda is the better dentrifice that may be used than any of the pastes!
Some people are concerned that baking soda is overly abrasive to the teeth, but it is actually much less abrasive than most commercial toothpastes. Toothpastes are ranked for "Relative Dentin Abrasivity (RDA)" - baking soda is the least-abrasive substance on these lists.
Cayce recommended going to the dentists of his day, when indicated:
TEXT OF READING 308-4 (Female, age 13)
10. (Q) What caused tooth to come in the roof of her mouth and what should be done about this?
(A) Must be removed. This is a misplaced, as it were, corpuscle first; then the formation. Necessitates the removal.11. (Q) What dentist would be advised?
(A) One in whom the body or those responsible for same has the utmost confidence.
This is Cayce's recommendation for a "coated tongue":
TEXT OF READING 451-1 (Female, age 21)
11. (Q) Give cause and treatment for coated tongue?
(A) The condition as exists in STOMACH, as given, makes for this condition. Naturally, with the position of stomach, with the conditions existent of an over acidity, makes for such conditions.
Earlier in this reading Cayce had advised #451 have "proper adjustments along the cerebro-spinal system", which would normalize "the position of the stomach".
A common Cayce remedy for aiding the stomach was consuming a tea made with a pinch of American Saffron (Safflower). I’ve found a few herb shops that carry this, and have bought safflower seeds. HerbCo also carries Safflower.
Sometimes a coated tongue has to do with SIBO: Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth. The small intestine should be relatively sterile. Having a low body temperature makes it easy for excessive amounts of bacteria to grow in your small intestine.
TEXT OF READING 1703-2 (Female, age 51)
8. (Q) Should the tooth being treated be filled or pulled?
(A) The back or the wisdom tooth should be pulled. The other filled, with the porcelain or such compound.
Sometimes the wisdom teeth need to be removed, but the routine removal of the wisdom teeth if they're not a problem is not necessarily ‘preventative’. I also note that Mr. Cayce recommended porcelain fillings, rather than gold or mercury (sometimes mistakenly referred to as "silver").
TEXT OF READING 460-1 (Female, age 17)
3. Now, in the physical conditions of this body, these we find very good in many respects and the body in that way, form and manner of keeping near normal. The conditions of which the body should be warned of, in regards the physical forces of the body, are especially those that have to do with the eliminations in the system, and the condition as is existent in teeth. The left portion in wisdom tooth, this needs local attention, also in the front and right, second molar, this needs local attention. We find there are being absorbed in the system some poisons and toxins as are being produced by this condition.
"Local attention" refers to the conventional dental treatments available at the time.
TEXT OF READING 2824-6 (Male, age 16 MONTHS)
5. Then we would keep the regular diet. Do not give too much starches, nor any of these alone, you see. These are hard on the digestive forces, especially in the periods of tooth formation.
This insight about “periods of tooth formation” is particularly important. If a child’s diet is particularly poor when their teeth are forming, they’re much more likely to have cavities and other tooth problems.
When people have major problems with their teeth, the root cause often has to do with having had poor habits when their teeth were forming. Adequate calcium and iodine is essential for helping children form better teeth. Iodine is found in animal-milk products (milk, cheese, etc), egg yolks and seafoods.
If you've had a lot of problems with your teeth, this may be partially your parents’ fault, but there's no point in 'blaming'. Do the best you can, and advocate for the children you're in contact with.
Dentist Weston A Price became concerned about the deterioration of dental health he observed in his patients, in the early 20th century. He traveled the planet and found that every group of humans that was eating its traditional diet had very good teeth. Every group that had taken to industrial "food" (refined white flour, etc) had terrible teeth. (Some of the modern followers of Dr. Price's foundation took to eating fermented cod liver oil and too many nuts, and haven't done nearly as well as they thought they were going to do...)
Cayce often recommended Glyco Thymoline as an alkaline mouthwash, and for other purposes. This was covered in a recent email: Cayce on the Many Uses of Glyco-Thymoline
I sell clear-Glyco on my website. Dr. Tung's tongue cleaner is the best I've found - the website indicates you can probably find this in one of your local stores (one of the dogs ate my tongue cleaner when they were puppies - I bought a replacement, but gave the new one to my dad when he needed it).
Another "dentrifice" that I often use on my teeth is brushing with plain bar soap (any brand will work). This works to break up the biofilm that acid-producing bacteria are constantly working to assemble on the teeth. To get rid of the aftertaste I follow the soap by brushing with baking soda & salt.
The Art of Dentistry
Dentistry is much more art than science. As Cayce said, 'trust' is an important factor in picking a dentist, as these two Readers Digest articles suggest: I Went to 50 Different Dentists and Almost All of Them Gave Me a Different Diagnosis and Can You Trust Your Dentist? It's always reasonable to get a second opinion for any major dental work.
My grandparents' old dentist gave me the advice to make sure a dentist’s drill sprays water on the tooth, as the heat of a dry drill is a good way to kill the tooth’s nerve. He also said to not go to someone who's been in practice for less than 10 years, as they're still paying off their school loans. My dentist retired in 2020. He carefully screened candidates before selling his practice to a young dentist.
A modern innovation in tooth repair
Two years ago I ran across a blog post titled The curious history of NovaMin toothpaste. (This post's initial paragraphs about fluoride are a distraction, so I've linked a few paragraphs down. Exposing children to too much fluoride results in dental fluorosis. Cayce talked about the importance of Iodine for teeth, NOT fluoride.)
When exposed to water and saliva, NovaMin forms hydroxyapatite-like crystals that occlude exposed dentin tubules in teeth. Essentially, it compensates for damaged enamel by creating a temporary repair, both relieving tooth sensitivity and preventing new caries from forming in exposed tubules.
In the U.S., Toothpastes made with NovaMin have to mail-ordered, as the ingredient has NOT been FDA-approved for treating ‘sensitivity’. From the link above:
As much as a conspiracy by Big Toothpaste to keep NovaMin from the American public would have been compelling, the reason that you currently don’t find toothpaste containing NovaMin in the USA is fairly simple. [...] In the USA, toothpaste is regulated as a drug, whereas in the EU it’s regulated as a cosmetic. Drug labeling and advertising is heavily restricted, and rightfully so.
If GSK were to make therapeutic claims about Novamin in their toothpaste, GSK would need FDA-approved evidence to back up those claims. Running the required studies is expensive. The projected increase in revenue could not justify the costs.
Amazon has a variety of toothpastes with Novamin. I eventually settled on a fluoride-free and SLS-free toothpaste using a NovaMin-like chemical branded as “Biomin” (SLS is a foaming agent that is commonly used in shampoo and toothpaste). “Dr Collin’s Biomin Restore” can be ordered from drcollins.com, or from Amazon.
I used Biomin Restore toothpaste daily for a week or two (brush, swish 60 seconds, spit, DO NOT RINSE), then I switched back to mainly using Cayce's Salt/Baking soda powder for my usual morning and evening brushings.
I still get sporadic sensitive spots on my teeth - these are certainly related to my remaining "circulation" problems (reading [574-1], above). Sporadic treatments with Biomin toothpaste (maybe once a week) seem to be keeping my sensitive teeth from bothering me. I managed to get my first tube of Biomin Restore to last for almost two years.
What's your oral hygiene regimen?
-James Knochel
https://radialappliance.teslabox.com/shop/
P.S. My 'Cold' Grounding Coins are now available with a hole for a lanyard, on my web store and facebook shop. Thanks!