IPSAB - AN HERBAL REMEDY FOR GUM PROBLEMS

by Tom Johnson and Carol A. Baraff

    Numerous readings recommend a solution called Ipsab as a treatment for the gums and teeth.  It is not known where the name originated - possibly it was coined by Edgar Cayce's source of information.  In Cayce's day at least, Ipsab was not a commercial product.

    Many readings prescribing it also gave directions for making it, but these formulas varied somewhat.  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.

    The Ipsab formula requires prickly ash bark, salt, calcium chloride, peppermint, and iodine.  Salt acts as an astringent, shrinking the gum membranes between the teeth so that the other ingredients can reach these areas.  The primary active ingredient is prickly ash bark.  This was known to the American Indians as "toothache bark," and Cayce referred to it by the same terms.

    In many cases Ipsab was suggested simply for general upkeep of the teeth and gums:

    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.  (257-11)

    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.   (987-1)

    Do use Ipsab as a massage for the gums and it will make a great deal of difference with the teeth, the breath and the general activity.   (3598-1)

    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 to 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.    (569-23)

    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-months-old child, respectively:

    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 ... as these processes are carried on through the activity of the thyroid operations in the body.    (314-2)

Q-2.  Are teeth forming normally?
A-2.  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 the 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.   (299-2)

    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:

Q-1. What can I do about pyorrhea condition in my teeth?
A-1.  Use Ipsab regularly each day and rinse mouth out when it is finished
with Glyco-Thymoline.   (5121-1)

    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.   (3696-1)

    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.   (1026-1)

[Note: The preceding report was written by Tom Johnson and Carol A. Baraff and is excerpted from The A.R.E. Journal, November, 1972, Volume 10, No. 6, page 257, Copyright © 1972 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation, Virginia Beach, VA.]