A Dental Remedy Channeled through Edgar Cayce

This year when I experienced dental discomfort, my dentist explained that this was due to increased gum sensitivity — something that I didn't realize could become a concern.  The suggested treatment was flossing after every meal.  This didn't seem to help so I decided to see if Edgar Cayce had been asked to provide a treatment for this problem during one of his hypnotic trances.  A simple Internet search for the words "Edgar Cayce gum sensitivity" brought a link to a product inspired by information found in Cayce's channeled readings transcripts.

I purchased a four-ounce bottle of "Heritage Store IPSAB Herbal Gum Treatment" for $10.42 with an additional shipping and handling cost of $3.59 for a total cost of $14.01.  The main ingredients are distilled water and Zanthoxylum clava-herculis L. (Prickly Ash) bark.

Upon receiving the ointment, I applied the ointment by fingertip to the sensitive gum areas before going to bed and the following morning noticed a reduction in the discomfort.  I had not expected there would be results so soon.

At first I wasn't sure how often to use it.  After not using the Ipsab ointment on the third day, I noticed increased sensitivity when water contacted the areas of discomfort so I began using Ipsab every day.  A week later, I was noticing minimal discomfort.

Two weeks later, the sensitivity was no longer noticeable.  I also noticed that the ointment was a natural freshener.  I've been continuing to occasionally use Ipsab as a wash for the gums. 

This week I decided to see what else I could learn about the Ipsab ointment.

A search for Ipsab among the texts on my Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE) CD containing 14,306 transcripts of Edgar Cayce's channeled readings resulted with a listing of 194 texts and 491 documents (including text indexes, backgrounds and reports).  I also found an article entitled "Ipsab — An Herbal Remedy for Gum Problems" in the November 1972 edition of The A.R.E. Journal.

This is how the remedy was mentioned in the transcript for channeled reading 1800-1 of January 29, 1925.

 

1. EC: Now, we have those conditions as regarding the proposition of exploiting properties as would be given as a specific for physical conditions that are detrimental to the health of the human family.  These specifics given through the psychic forces, as manifested in the body Edgar Cayce, the proposition of exploiting same considered by Morton Blumenthal and David Blumenthal, these conditions we find:

2. Were these handled in the proper channels, there is the good to be obtained for the human family, and the expending of monies, expending of self, expending of all endeavors to be of assistance to others, when there is not excess of any nature, when there is only the good being attempted to be given, the returns in the monetary way are only the just desserts to such explorations.

3. As to how these properties are to be made, namely, that under consideration: Well that these be manufactured under the supervision of someone directly interested in the manifestations of such phenomena.

4. As to how this pyorrhea, or Gum-ese, would be prepared: [It was later [from 1925 on] referred to as Ipsab*.]

5. To six ounces toothache bark, or Prickly Ash Bark, add 16 ounces rain, or snow, water.

* [10/17/72 GD's note: An article on Ipsab appearing in 11/72 issue of The A.R.E. Journal by Tom Johnson and Carol A. Baraff states "It is not known where the name originated." This reminds me to make this notation: The name was suggested by Gertrude Cayce, combining the first letters of the main ingredients: iodine, prickly ash bark [or peppermint], salt. Soon the readings started using the name.]

6. Reduce by simmering (not boiling too severely) to one-half the quantity. Then add iodized, or salt treated with iodine, to the amount of 8 ounces; this stirred well in while the solution is very warm, adding at the same time to these properties 2 minims of Oil of Peppermint.

7. Use or place in container wherein the solution may be used by rubbing on gum with the finger, and the mouth rinsed with plain water after rubbing for two to three minutes. This solution should be used where pyorrhea has begun at least twice each week, until the gums and soreness is relieved.  Then once each month.  Should solution become hard from exposure, and from evaporation, add small quantity of water and the solution will be ready for use.  Best that these properties, then, be put in small containers.

8. We are through.

 

In the 1972 The A.R.E. Journal article, Tom Johnson and Carol A. Baraff wrote about Ipsab:

In a few instances it is stated that the finished product should be a paste, but the majority of cases suggest a liquid.  If desired, a paste may be easily made by adding salt in sufficient amounts to the liquid.

Johnson and Baraff reported that prickly ash bark was known to the American Indians as 'toothache bark' and Cayce referred to it by the same terms.  Reading passages were cited to show that Ipsab had been suggested for general upkeep of the teeth and gums.

[From text of channeled reading 257-11 given on January 11, 1926]

Using, then for the teeth and gums, to strengthen same, those properties as found in that combination [Ipsab] as has been given for such conditions through these forces.

[From text of channeled reading 987-1 given on August 7, 1935]

Some local attention [to the teeth] is needed.  The natural tendency of a disturbance in the circulatory forces to the sensory organs, as indicated, is to make for a lack of the proper circulation through the gums and to the portions of the teeth themselves.

If the solution known as Ipsab is used to massage the gums occasionally, it will make for a strengthening of the areas and a preserving of their usefulness.  Once or twice a week this would be thoroughly massaged into the gums, and will make a great deal of change in the gums and the teeth.

Do that.

 

 

[From text of channeled reading 3598-1 given on January 21, 1944]

Do use Ipsab as a message for the gums and it will make a great deal of difference with the teeth, the breath and the general activity.

 

 

[From text of channeled reading 569-23 given on November 13, 1935]

 

We would use same [Ipsab] not upon cotton, for this body, but upon the finger use it and massage; not only the gums where the teeth are but where they are not!  And we will find that the stimulation in the activities of the throat itself, to the salivary glands, to even the tonsil area, will be materially aided by the activity of the combination of the calcium with the iodine in same, as well as the antiseptics that arise from the vegetable forces in same as combined with sodium chloride.

 

Johnson and Baraff also presented excerpts from readings that indicated "Ipsab, in diluted form, was recommended for the developing teeth of babies."  The following readings were given for a one-year-old and a nine-year-old child, respectively.

 

[From text of channeled reading 314-2 given on April 14, 1934]

 

Also, during this period of the formation of the teeth, keep sufficient quantities of iodine in the food values for the body, as well as calcium, and so forth. It will be found that a massage of the gums occasionally with those properties known as Ipsab will be helpful in making for a healthy condition as these processes are carried on through the activity of the thyroid operations in the body. Keep the body well balanced with the diets that make sufficient amounts of silicon, calcium, iron, and the like, in the VEGETABLE forces; for these should not be given as separate forces for this body in the present, as we find.

 

 

[From text of channeled reading 299-2 given on June 13, 1932]

 

6.  (Q) Are teeth forming normally?

(A)  These are very good.  We would find that a weakened solution of Ipsab for the gums would tend to relieve the pressure and make for normalcy in the salivary glands, as well as strengthening the tissue in mouth.  This should be reduced at least half, and the gums massaged with a tuft of cotton with same.  This also adds to the amount of saline, calcium and iodine, for the activity of the glands in mouth and throat.

 

The article by Johnson and Baraff concluded with the following commentary and excerpts.

 

Ipsab seems to be especially effective in treatment of bleeding or receding gums and for treatment and prevention of pyorrhea.  In one reading Cayce stated that some element in the prickly ash bark destroyed the germs that cause pyorrhea.  Ipsab was also prescribed for trench mouth and other types of gum problems.

 

[From text of channeled reading 5121-1 May 17, 1944]

 

7.  (Q) What can I do about pyorrhea condition in my teeth?

(A) Use Ipsab regularly each day and rinse mouth out when it is finished with Glyco-Thymoline.

 

 

[From text of channeled reading 3696-1 given on March 16, 1944]

 

The receding gums and those tendencies towards pyorrhea would be allayed by the consistent use of Ipsab as a massage for the teeth and gums.  Also these should be treated, some locally, with the dentist's paraphernalia [and also] - the small wads of cotton saturated with the Ipsab and applied in the areas where the conditions are indicated at the base or edge of the gums.

 

 

[From text of channeled reading 1026-1 given on October 21, 1935]

 

This will purify and make for such a condition as to assist in correcting the trouble where there has been the softening of the teeth themselves - or the enamel on same.

 

The website of the Association for Research and Enlightenment offers an Edgar Cayce Health Database that includes descriptions of the numerous therapeutic modalities presented in the Edgar Cayce channeled readings transcripts.