Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi was a man of great faith and determination, carefree and unbound. Even such a man would lament, “Tormented by headache and toothache, I've lain in bed for three days; my wife tends to the decoction while my maid helps me up. Today, I seem a little better and ask first if there's wine available next door?” When he grew old and lost two teeth, he even wrote a poem titled “Farewell to My Teeth.” Many other ancient literati shared his plight, like Han Yu who in “Lost Tooth” wrote, “I lost one tooth last year, another this year. Suddenly, six or seven are gone, and the loss shows no sign of stopping.” Xin Qiji wrote in “Prediction on Losing a Tooth,” “The hard do not remain firm, the soft are difficult to crush. If you don't believe it, open your mouth and see: the tongue falls out before the teeth. Two gaps on either side, now a hole in the middle. I tell my children not to laugh at their old man; let them crawl through the dog hole.” Southern Song Dynasty poet Lu You suffered from oral diseases for years. Among the over nine thousand poems that have survived, more than one hundred and fifty are related to his teeth, detailing almost every step of his toothache, loose teeth, and tooth loss. The many troubles brought by oral diseases can be deeply felt through these verses.
From a Western medical perspective, dental diseases that cause toothaches include caries, pulpitis, and periodontal disease. If these conditions are not treated in time and effectively, they can lead to loose and falling teeth, affecting appearance, speech, and mastication function. Therefore, when we notice black spots or cavities in our teeth, bleeding when brushing, or loose teeth, we should promptly visit a dental clinic for examination and treatment. If treatment is delayed, excessively loose teeth or large cavities may necessitate extraction.
In addition to timely treatment, we should also focus on prevention in our daily lives—oral health care. Traditional Chinese medicine offers many simple yet effective methods for oral care, which we might as well learn together.
Tooth Tapping and Saliva Swallowing
There is a popular saying, “Tapping the teeth morning and night, three hundred and sixty times, and your teeth won't fall out even when you're seventy or eighty.” Tang Dynasty physician Sun Simiao noted in “Qianjin Fang,” “Every morning, put a pinch of salt in your mouth, rinse with warm water, clean your teeth, and tap your teeth one hundred times. Do this continuously without stopping, and after no more than five days, your teeth and gums will become strong. People who cannot eat fruit or vegetables due to exposed tooth roots can all be healed by this method of salt rinsing and tooth tapping, which is highly effective.” Tooth tapping is an ancient Chinese method for strengthening teeth. As teeth are the surplus of bone, regular tooth tapping strengthens the tendons and bones, making one feel refreshed and invigorated.
When combined with saliva swallowing, tooth tapping can strengthen the spleen and stomach, regulate qi, and nourish the kidneys. Practice method: Tap the teeth thirty-six times. Hold the thumb with four fingers against the waist, clear your mind of distractions, and breathe evenly. Focus inward on your organs, exhale slowly, then breathe calmly. With the tongue swirling around the lips and teeth, swish the saliva but do not swallow it yet. Repeat three times, then swallow the saliva and allow the breath to enter the dantian. Consistent practice every day can regulate blood circulation in the periodontal tissues, enhance the function of the masticatory muscles and saliva secretion, and promote the health of the teeth and gums.
Oral Massage
Oral massage is a health maintenance method that uses fingers or certain tools (such as a toothbrush) to massage areas like the gums, aiming to smooth meridians, activate blood circulation, and alleviate swelling and pain. It also plays a positive role in maintaining oral hygiene, preserving normal physiological functions, and delaying aging. Below are specific methods for finger massage and toothbrush massage.
Finger massage involves placing the pads of both hands on the skin outside the mouth opposite the gums and massaging the skin around the lips up and down. Then, use the index or middle finger to massage the gums inside the mouth, covering the upper and lower, left and right, inner and outer gums, with about ten repetitions per area, once or twice daily. If there are tartar deposits, get a professional cleaning before massaging to avoid irritating the gum tissue.
Toothbrush massage involves using the bristles to gently press and vibrate or rotate slightly on the gum area during tooth brushing, moving from one area to the next until the entire gum line has been massaged. Consistent practice every day can help maintain gum health.
Herbal Remedies
Herbal remedies adjust dietary combinations to expel pathogens and heal illnesses, with a long history in China. They also play a role in the prevention and maintenance of oral health.
For example, cooking wax gourd with rock sugar produces a sweet soup that clears heat and promotes urination, relieves irritability and quenches thirst, and has a good adjuvant effect on oral ulcers. Tofu and gypsum soup clears lung heat, reduces stomach fire, detoxifies, and moisturizes, treating gastric heat toothache, oral ulcers, and pharyngitis. Boiling licorice root powder with rock sugar has a heat-clearing and alcohol-detoxifying effect, quenching thirst and relieving irritation, and can treat gastric heat toothache, oral ulcers, and sore throat. Boiling fat sea beans with rock sugar has a heat-clearing, detoxifying, and lung-moistening effect, treating dry and painful throat, swollen and painful gums, and other symptoms. Boiling peanuts with garlic can treat chronic gum bleeding caused by spleen deficiency and dampness. Red dates, sheep bones, and glutinous rice porridge nourish the spleen and blood, tonify the kidneys and qi, and strengthen bones and teeth, treating slow growth of baby teeth.
External Treatment with Chinese Herbs
Since most oral diseases manifest locally, external treatment with Chinese herbs is particularly important in the prevention and treatment of these diseases. For instance, magnolia bark and safflower can inhibit acid production by cariogenic bacteria and have a preventive effect on tooth decay, suitable for local application. Powdered herbs like asarum, Sichuan pepper, white pepper, and gallnut mixed with borneol, when inserted into cavities, can relieve pain. Rinsing with a decoction of honeysuckle or a mixture of coptis, phellodendron, and skullcap after meals can help alleviate swollen and painful gums. External application of herbs like zanthoxylum, skullcap, notoginseng, magnolia, ginseng, and wind-removing herb has anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, caries-preventive, and desensitizing effects. Chinese patent medicines like Yin Nourishing and Muscle Building Powder and Bingpeng Powder can treat oral ulcers. An equal mixture of honeysuckle, bamboo leaf, white peony, and mint boiled in water and used as a mouthwash can also treat oral ulcers.
It is worth mentioning the famous Song Dynasty scholar Su Dongpo, who loved studying health preservation, especially oral health care. In “Dongpo's Record of Events,” it is mentioned, “Eyes should not be washed. When the eyes are diseased, they should be preserved. When the teeth are diseased, they should be exercised. These two conditions should not be treated the same way. Treating the eyes should be like governing the people, and treating the teeth should be like commanding an army. Governing the people should be like Cao Can governed Qi, and commanding the army should be like Shang Yang governed Qin.” “Compendium of Medicine Through the Ages” also records Su Dongpo's method of rinsing the mouth with strong tea, which involves steeping tea leaves in strong tea and rinsing the mouth after meals. This method removes food residue and also eliminates toothworms. Modern research has found that tea contains a large amount of catechins and theaflavins, which can prevent tooth decay.
Proper Tooth Brushing
Tooth brushing is the most basic method of self-care for oral health. Proper brushing effectively removes food residue and dental plaque from the oral cavity. Common brushing methods include the modified Bass technique and the circular method.
The modified Bass technique, also known as the horizontal vibration method, is suitable for adults. Its main purpose is to remove dental plaque near the gum line and in the sulcus. Hold the toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to the tooth surface, with the bristles facing towards the gums, allowing easy access to the gums and sulcus. Make small horizontal vibrations, usually no more than two teeth at a time, and move back and forth about ten times. Then, rotate the toothbrush from the root direction, letting the bristles sweep across the tooth surface and dislodge debris from the gum sulcus. Brush each surface