Qian Jin Fang: A Comprehensive Collection of Traditional Chinese Medicine Remedies for Tooth and Gum Disorders

This prescription comes from the “Qian Jin Fang” (Essential Prescriptions for Every Emergency), written by Sun Simiao during the Tang Dynasty. The book is a cornerstone of Traditional Chinese Medicine, offering over 5,000 remedies for various ailments.

The section on Tooth and Gum Diseases includes treatments for toothache, gum swelling, and dental decay using natural herbs like Licorice, Angelica, and Asarum. It highlights TCM’s holistic approach, focusing on balancing the body’s health to treat and prevent oral issues.

Tooth Diseases (Sixth Section)
(One discussion, thirty-eight formulas, two moxibustion methods)

Discussion:

For receding gums and exposed teeth, this is often caused by malnutrition or “lunar eclipse” (a traditional term possibly referring to a specific dietary or environmental condition). Apply a paste made of Jiaohao ash at night onto the gums, ensuring full coverage. Avoid oily foods for two to three nights, and the condition will heal. Consuming oily foods or dried dates can cause a relapse. Thus, those with tooth issues should avoid oils, dried dates, and cinnamon bark.

Every morning, put a pinch of salt in your mouth, use warm water to rinse, brush your teeth, and tap them 100 times. Continue daily without interruption, and in no more than five days, your teeth and gums will feel firm and strong. When a person’s gums prevent them from eating fruits and vegetables, it is because of exposed tooth roots. Use this salt-water method for brushing and tapping the teeth, and there will be no cases that do not heal—it works miraculously well.

People often suffer from dental diseases because they consume food or drink during lunar eclipses, so those aware of this should be especially cautious. Hence, during solar or lunar eclipses, it is advised to abstain from eating and drinking, and this applies to children as well.

Remedies for Dental Decay and Toothache:

1. Tooth Decay and Worm Pain Formula:

• White Aconite, Anemarrhena, Asarum (6 zhu each), Chuanxiong, Galangal (12 zhu each)

Grind the five ingredients into a powder. Wrap a small amount in cloth and place it on the affected tooth. Saliva will be produced, which should be spat out. Use this method twice a day; it also helps with bad breath.

2. Another Remedy:
Cut a piece of white horse’s hoof the size of a grain of rice, wrap it in cloth, and place it on the painful spot in the tooth. This should be done no more than three times.

3. Formula for Long-Term Tooth Decay and Worms:

• Sparrow Wheat Grass (also called Durou Grass, which resembles ox hair grass)
• Bitter Gourd Leaves (40 leaves, cleaned, and exposed to dew overnight)

In the morning, take a piece of grass (2 inches long, 1 inch wide, 0.5 inch thick), wrap it with bitter gourd leaves, and make 50-60 small bundles. Soak them in three-year-old vinegar. At midday, take two bundles, heat them until very hot, and press them on the outside of the tooth. Change them when they cool down. Afterward, submerge the bundles in water and wash them. This will expel worms, some as large as 3 fen (about 1 cm), yellow or red for older worms, and white for younger ones. You can expect to remove 30-40 worms or 10-20 in milder cases.

4. Tooth Worm Formula:

• Henbane Seeds (3 he)
  If unavailable, Scallion Seeds or Leek Seeds can be used.
  Take 7 coins, heat them until red-hot, place them in a small jar, add a pinch of henbane seeds, and let them roast. Cover your mouth with the jar, allowing the smoke to enter your mouth to treat the tooth. Repeat until 3 he of medicine is used up. This remedy not only cures tooth worms but also wind pain and tooth decay.

5. Another Remedy:
Cut white poplar leaves (1 sheng), boil in 3 sheng of water, and reduce to 1 sheng. Rinse your mouth with this solution.

6. Another Remedy:
Boil 1 sheng of vinegar with 1 sheng of Goji root bark. Rinse your mouth, and the worms will come out.

7. Another Remedy:
Burn peach kernels with a hairpin until they emit smoke. Hold the smoke over the tooth until pain subsides.

Remedies for Gum Disease:

1. Formula for Gum Erosion from Worms:
Place an earthworm on a stone, sprinkle with salt, wait until it liquefies, then apply this liquid to the affected area. Cover with soap bean skin, and the worms will come out.

2. Another Remedy:
Burn hemp seed wax, mix with spring water, and apply.

3. Another Remedy:
Mix black sheep fat and henbane seeds in equal amounts. Heat an iron tool until red-hot, place the mixture on the tool, and inhale the smoke.

Additional Tooth Pain Remedies:

1. Formula for Gum Swelling and Tooth Pain:
Boil Scutellaria, Licorice, Cinnamon Bark, Angelica, Asarum, and Snake Bed Seed in vinegar water, and use as a mouthwash.

2. Formula for Tooth Root Movement:
Chew fresh Rehmannia wrapped in cloth, or apply the juice to the teeth several times a day.

3. Formula for Gum Bleeding:
Boil Bamboo Shavings in vinegar and rinse.