(Q) Does too much fluorine cause decay of teeth, and where
is the borderline?
(A) Read what has just been indicated. It depends upon the
combinations, more than it does upon the quantity of fluorine
itself. But, to be sure, too much fluorine in the water
would not make so much in the teeth as it would in other
elements or activities which may be reflected in teeth; not
as the cause of same but producing a disturbance that may
contribute to the condition.
But where there is iron or sulphur or magnesium, be careful.
To perfectly understand it would be preferable to understand
these:
There are areas within the United States - such as in some
portions of Texas, portions in Arizona, others in Wyoming -
where the teeth are seldom ever decayed. Study the water
there, the quantity of fluorine there, the lack of iron or
sulphur or the proportions of sulphur; that is in the regular
water.
There are many sections, of course, where fluorine added to
the water, with many other chemicals would be most
beneficial. There are others where, even a small quantity
added would be very detrimental.
Hence it cannot be said positively that this or that quantity
should be added save in a certain degree of other chemicals
being combined with same in the drinking water.
But there are some places where you have few or none. For,
here we will find a great quantity of either iron or sulphur,
while in some places in the West - as in the central portion
of Texas in certain vicinities, you won't find any decay.
Certain cases in the North Western portion of Arizona, or
close within some parts of Cheyenne, Wyoming, will not be
found to show decay - if the water that is used is from the
normal source of supply. But where there have been
contributions from other supplies of water, there will be
found variations in the supply of magnesium and other
chemicals as from the flowing over, or arsenic and such -
these cause destruction to the teeth.
(Q) What is the best manner of protecting teeth against
decay?
(A) Keeping the best physical health of the body and
protecting it from iron or iron products that may become a
part of the body-physical in one manner or another. These
are needed, but when their proportions are varied the teeth
do not show the proper relationships - when you lose that
quantity of iron needed.
(Q) Could the diet give the required amount of fluorine for
prevention of decay?
(A) It could aid but depending upon the water and other
conditions - there's no definite.
(Q) What other factors are there that control and have an
effect on mottled enamel and decay of teeth?
(A) The general health of the body and the chemical
processes that are a part of the digestive system, the
process of digestion, the chemical processes through same,
and the blood stream. These, of course, are the processes
within the body itself.
(Q) How can this condition be prevented in children's teeth?
(A) By keeping a proper balance in the diet and in the
protection from the ordinary causes - which are the lack of
cleanliness.
(Q) As I have patented dimethyl cellulose for use in a
dentifrice, what is the best chemical combination to use same
in a liquid form?
(A) This depends upon what it is used for, whether it is to
be for the gums or merely for the protection of the teeth
themselves. If it is to be as a protection, then the use of
those properties found in what is known as toothache bark
[Prickly Ash Bark
1] will supply sufficient elements not only
to protect gums but to form a resistance against many of
those forms of diseases that attack teeth and gums.
(Q) What chemical preparation, or should any form of
fluorine be best for desensitizing the necks of teeth that
are so sensitive, and how applied?
(A) This would have to be applied locally if it is to be
used. This is not best to be used in a dentifrice because of
quite a variation that is found in the various districts
where the processes in a dentifrice have their effect upon
various conditions.
(Q) Is the paste of sodium fluorine and lime that I have
prepared safe to use for desensitizing erosion cavities, and
could we seal it in cavities for desensitizing same, for
drilling out decay and preparing teeth for restoration?
(A) It could be used in ninety percent of the conditions.
About ten percent it would not be used in, for where the
causes of the decay are from other sources - as from certain
types of temperature in the body or fevers or properties that
have been given in the form of drugs carrying certain
quantities of other elements, as in the sulpha drugs, it will
be harmful. But it could be used in ninety percent of the
cases.
(Q) Is fluorine - i.e., in its liquid form - safe to use for
cavities in children's teeth or adult teeth for painless
drilling, as used in my office?
(A) This would be safe, as a general thing, yes - would be
safe.
(Q) What is the best and safest method to desensitize
cavities in drilling teeth and for removing of decay in
teeth, both in children and adults?
(A) Cloves, as well as a combination of Oil of Cloves, with
more potent factors, are the ones to use, and are better than
most of those used in the present.
(Q) What are they?
(A) Those that are used in the present.
(Q) Should drinking water in certain localities be prepared
with a percentage of fluorine for prevention of decay and
for preventing mottled enamel in teeth? If so, how and
where?
(A) This would have to be tested in the various districts
themselves, much as has been indicated. There's scarcely an
individual place in Ohio that it wouldn't be helpful, for it
will get rid of and add to that condition to cause a better
activity in the thyroid glands; while, for general use, in
such a district as Illinois (say in the extreme northern
portion) it would be harmful. These would necessarily
require testing, according to the quantities of other
conditions or minerals or elements in the water.
(Q) Has the liquid dentifrice consisting of dimethyl
cellulose and fluorine combination, that I gave to Dr.
Samuel Miller of N.Y. University to be used for experimental
purposes, been given a fair trial, and what was the results?
(A) It hasn't been given a fair trial. It's only been
looked over and laid aside.
(Q) Should this preparation be perfected for this use, and
how?
(A) This may be perfected for its use, and as indicated can
be in the main, but there are some districts in which it will
be harmful.
(Q) Are there any manufacturers using dimethyl cellulose
under any other trade name in a toothpaste or liquid
dentifrice: if so, who are they?
(A) Most of them are using it in one form or another.
(Q) In toothpaste or liquid?
(A) In toothpaste and in liquid.
(Q) Who are they?
(A) We are through.
Copy to Self
Copy to Ass'n file
1 [
9/15/43 GD's note: Prickly Ash Bark is the principal
active ingredient in IPSAB.]
REPORTS
12/26/43 [
3211] obtained a Life Reading,
3211-2.
2/21/44 He obtained a Physical Reading,
3211-3.
See Source Key File #3211 for all current reports,
supplements and commentaries re 3211-1.
12/22/75 Reports from A.R.E. Member, Jessie Richter:
"...I had been troubled with sensitivity due to receding
gums. Since following Cayce's advice regarding the use of
baking soda and salt as a dentifrice and Ipsab for gum
massage two or three times a week, the sensitivity has so
considerably improved that I would not use any other method
again..."
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation