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Ping An: This chapter appears in Volume 13, Chapter 47 "Qi Bing Lun" (Treatise on Rare Diseases) of the *Su Wen* (Basic Questions), and also in Volume 9, Chapter 5 of the *Jia Yi Jing* (Classified Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion).

The Yellow Emperor asked Qi Bo: There is a person suffering from bitter taste in the mouth. What is this disease called? How is it contracted? Qi Bo replied: The name of this disease is Dan Dan (Damp-heat of the Gallbladder/Bile Overflow). (Ping An: In the *Su Wen* and *Jia Yi Jing*, after the character for "disease," there are six characters reading "bitter taste in the mouth, treat with Yanglingquan." The New Correction of the *Su Wen* states: "The Ben Quan Qi edition and the *Tai Su* do not have the six characters 'bitter taste in the mouth, treat with Yanglingquan.' Carefully examining the context and flow of the preceding and following text, it is suspected that this is an error.") The Liver is the general within; its decisions depend on the Gallbladder. The pharynx serves as its envoy. Such individuals often deliberate but fail to decide, thus causing Gallbladder deficiency. The Qi overflows upward, making the mouth bitter. Treatment should be conducted using the Front-Mu and Shu-Acupoints of the Gallbladder, as detailed in the chapter "Yin Yang Twelve Officials Mutual Assistance." (The Gallbladder is the Fu-organ of the Liver; the Liver is the internal general, depending on the Gallbladder. If a person fails to decide due to deliberation, it injures the Gallbladder Qi, causing it to ascend. The Gallbladder overflow follows the pharynx into the mouth, causing bitterness, named Dan Dan. One may select the Front-Mu point of the Gallbladder, Riyue [Sun Moon]. Ping An: The *Jia Yi Jing* has six characters before "Liver is": "The Gallbladder is the mansion of pure essence." The annotation notes: "The *Su Wen* does not contain this sentence.")

Ping An: From the beginning of this chapter up to "teeth should also hurt," it appears in Volume 13, Chapter 47 "Qi Bing Lun" of the *Su Wen*, and also in Volume 9, Chapter 1 of the *Jia Yi Jing*. From "Toothache without aversion to cold drinks" to the end, it appears in Volume 5, Chapter 26 "Za Bing" (Miscellaneous Diseases) of the *Ling Shu* (Spiritual Pivot), and also in Volume 12, Chapter 6 of the *Jia Yi Jing*.

The Yellow Emperor said: There is a person suffering from headache that persists for years. How did this arise? What disease is this? Qi Bo replied: It must be due to exposure to severe Cold pathogen, which penetrated inward to the bone marrow. Since the brain is the master of the bone marrow, the reversal of Brain Qi causes headache, and the teeth should also hurt. (Severe Cold enters the bone marrow and flows into the brain. Because there is Cold reversal in the brain, the headache persists for years. Teeth are the surplus of bones, hence toothache occurs. Ping An: In the *Su Wen* and *Jia Yi Jing*, "sui shu" is written as "shu sui," and "chi yi dang tong" is written as "chi yi tong".) For toothache without aversion to cold drinks, treat the Foot-Yangming channel; for toothache with aversion to cold drinks, treat the Hand-Yangming channel. (Upper toothache, due to the abundant Qi of the Foot-Yangming Stomach channel, implies no aversion to cold; thus, treat the Foot-Yangming channel. Lower toothache, treat the Hand-Yangming Large Intestine channel. Ping An: The *Ling Shu* and *Jia Yi Jing* write "qing" (clear/cold), while the Daozang edition of the *Ling Shu* writes "leng" (cold).)