Teeth, toothache, tooth removal in a survival situation.

Now, i'm putting this out to see if we have any dentistry students / dentists / orthodontists on the board!

Now, we have all bases covered, then I realised what we are missing here in the threads.

Tooth care, and tooth removal in an emergency survival situation.

So, i throw this out to every one - your semi / expert opinions and advice are going to be truely appreciated here.

Run with it!


Edit to correct spelling in title.

[edit on 1-1-2007 by mrwupy]

Nasty business...

Pray to God you don't have dental trouble in a survival situation, that's my biggest piece of advice. Seriously, it's miserable, and awful, and I can think of few things worse. I'd rather be stuck in the middle of nowhere with no shoes, no food, no water, and no rifle, than be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a bad tooth.

:shk:

The first step would be prevention. A green twig can be frayed at the end and used as a crude toothbrush to get the gunk out from the nooks and crannies to prevent infection. Rinsing with water/alcohol also helps, if you have a surplus.

As far as pulling a tooth...

There are so many things that can go wrong. What the dentist does is rock the tooth gently back and forth after gripping it firmly with a pair of pliers, this is to widen the socket so the tooth can be pulled. But during this step, there is a good chance you will break the tooth off at the roots, at which point you have an even bigger problem than when you started.

Unless you have dental instruments at your disposal, you're going to have a Hell of a time getting a broken tooth out of your jawbone. The sockets are deep, and narrow, and your bowie knife or pliers aren't going to do the trick.

Even if you do get the tooth out successfully, you could be brought low by infection. The human mouth is absolutely filthy, and the only saving grace is that there's no direct line into the bloodstream for all that filth. But if you yank a tooth out, you just created a doorway for all those nasty bacteria to crawl through.

Sterilization, I would imagine, would be key, both for the area and the tools you're using.

I think there are many situations where you'd be better off treating the pain, rather than trying to pull the tooth and risk making your situation a whole lot worse. If you've already got an infection, it might seem wise to pull the tooth, but that could lead to an even worse infection that spreads more easily throughout the body.

It's a lose-lose situation, as far as I can tell.

As far as treating pain, there are regular OTC painkillers and, of course, alcohol. Alternately, you could pack some tobacco around the tooth to dull the pain. It's not the best solution, but survival situations are all about choosing the best option out of a limited range.

I'm no dentist, and I imagine there are very few dentists who would feel comfortable dispensing advice on pulling your own teeth - after all, it's a liability issue. I realize that we're talking about a survival situation here, but still, you can't blame them for being worried that people will just use this as an alternative to paying a professional.

One time i had a really bad toothache, and my appointment to get it fixed was a few days away, so i did some research online. I found out that Clove Oil will help. So i got some from the pharmace at safeway. just FYI Walgreens did not carry it. it is $5 for a small bottle that will last a long time. then you need cotton balls. you peel off a small piece of cotton, and just barely rub the cotton on the side of the bottle and place the cotton where the toothache is. Clove Oil is very strong, and not much is necessary. It worked for me, and i was totally fine until my appointment. also i read that it works on earaches, same thing put some on a cotton ball and place in your ear. I havnt had to try that out yet though.

They use that to anesthetize fish (clove oil).

I've never known you could use it on people too, but it certainly makes sense. Thanks for the tip.

I ached till i could ache no longer reading your reply...


Oh the abject misery of toothache.

Cheers wyrdone, thats made my morning.

As for the clove oil - yes it works, but a side effect is that it kills the skin and can cause a worsening of the pain, and god forbid, ulcerations through over use... then your in a whole world of hurt.

I am just putting this out there as a survival only situation, not a cheap skate trying to save a buck on tooth care!

If you've got land for crops, this would be a great reason to grow some poppies along with your food plants.

A tooth problem without access to medications and a dentist would be awful. It's bad enough when you do have them.

Prevention is the key. Have toothbrush and paste either in your bug out bag or your hidden cache. Then pray you can find a dentist in the after math of siduation x. Most multitools come with pliers but I only recommend self dentist work as a LAST resort.

I thought I should mention that honey works good against infections. It's natural "antibiotics". Put the honey around the area of infection (or to prevent infection). Actually, honey is so good that it can kill bacteria that has become resistant to antibiotics!

Honey as Medicine


Thanks to its antimicrobial action, it not only soothes sore throats but can also kill the bacteria that sometimes cause them. Although research is inconclusive so far, there’s also the suggestion it could actually reduce tooth decay—all that sticky sugar notwithstanding.

Emphasis mine...

[edit on 2007/1/1 by Hellmutt]

Dentistry is not a modern luxury is as ancient as man kind, but making it more comfortable is.

We have been truly spoiled by our modern ways of living.

To avoid infections the key is Water boiling water and anything that is to be used in any kind of procedures even if is taking care of an infected sore.

Boiling water save many people when the link between hygiene and death rates was made.

And occurs old fashion penicillin. I imagine that the first places to be taken by groups will be medical supplies.

The ones that will take over and control the medical supplies still available will be the ones that will force control on others.

My dentist advised cloves as a backup painkiller too for toothache. Either the oil or mash the leaves up and rub it round the tooth and gum.

Failing that it's probably a get very drunk and pliers job....then again whilst it sounds easy enough to do i would'nt ever want to be in the position where i have to do it. A good old army field dressing should just about do to mop up with if you have to do an extraction!

CX.

Originally posted by 2Resistance
Prevention is the key. Have toothbrush and paste either in your bug out bag or your hidden cache. Then pray you can find a dentist in the after math of siduation x. Most multitools come with pliers but I only recommend self dentist work as a LAST resort.

Thats another thing most people dont think about. I will admit if your running for your life you dont want to stop to brush but when ya get a minute an ounce of prevention as the saying goes.
I didnt know about the honey that knowledge could come in handy, thank you for sharing that.

[edit on 1-1-2007 by angryamerican]

there's always the tie a string around the tooth, and around a doorknob, and them slam the door trick......

for some reason, my parents gave the impression that this works.....I was always too chicken, put up with my toothaches, besides they were good when my mom brought me to the bars, they were always good for a coke spiked with whiskey.

Originally posted by dawnstar

there's always the tie a string around the tooth, and around a doorknob, and them slam the door trick......

You can also try to get Bigfoot to remove the tooth for you...

Definately, prevention is the key. Scrub them teeth down any time you get the chance.

I once worked with a girl who did the home-extraction thing with a jug of tequila, her boyfriend, and a pair of pliers. The tooth came out after a fashion (he had as much tequila as she did, I think). The resulting infection cost two hospital visits, a month worth of major antibiotics, and a week and a half out of work.

The dentist would have been a lot cheaper.

I own a orthodontic lab and you guys are way off on yout theories. If you have a decayed tooth and it starts to ache if you can wait it out the nerve will die and then your body will start to reject the dead cells. keys to this process is keeping infection down. over about a month period after the nerve has died and the pain has decressed the tooth will be come brittle and as long as you have no pre-emptive implications with tissues damage or infections the tooth will beging to break away above the gingival margin once the clinic crown has been broken off the remaining tooth will be treated like a splinter your body will reject it.

Originally posted by tsloan
as long as you have no pre-emptive implications with tissues damage or infections the tooth will beging to break away above the gingival margin once the clinic crown has been broken off the remaining tooth will be treated like a splinter your body will reject it.

Darn, so I didn't have to get that root canal that had me crying like a baby for one week

Because it got infected.

All I needed to do was to suffer until it died and fell off.

[edit on 1-1-2007 by marg6043]

Originally posted by marg6043

All I needed to do was to suffer until it died and fell off.

That was my thought as well. I just had four of my teeth pulled. I was suffering for almost two months before I got the job done. They didn't fall out by themselves...

Hon, I was so scare of the dentist that I suffered for two years with pain until I could not hold any more and had to do something about it.

And it was not pretty.

The doctor took the three root canals all in one visit.

I spend three days feeling the entire procedure over and over again because it was infected.

And the doctor could not believe me that I was not taking the numbing injections.

I fell the entire procedure while he kept injecting me with solution and told me that he could not inject me anymore.

That experience has left me mar for life.

wow - you guys are really getting me thinking... i thought i had most things covered and then AngryAmerican comes along with his eye protection thread and now this

I have had a quick surf for Dental Tools on Google and found this...

www.medical-tools.com...

It seems that there is different forceps for different Teeth so you would need to purchase a whole set... The danger with using normal pliers seems to be the tooth snapping and leaving the root behind... Ouch!!!

I own a orthodontic lab and you guys are way off on yout theories. If you have a decayed tooth and it starts to ache if you can wait it out the nerve will die and then your body will start to reject the dead cells. keys to this process is keeping infection down. over about a month period after the nerve has died and the pain has decressed the tooth will be come brittle and as long as you have no pre-emptive implications with tissues damage or infections the tooth will beging to break away above the gingival margin once the clinic crown has been broken off the remaining tooth will be treated like a splinter your body will reject it.

Is this true?? If so then cool Although i have had dental problems in the past and, to be honest, i dont know if i could just wait it out if i had an extraction tool sitting in my kit

Oh yeah... Clove oil is great stuff

I had a wisdon tooth break off at the gum line. I was in severe pain for 3 weeks before it went away. I had no idea what to do so I sufferd. That sucked throbbed day and night. I had no isurrance or money because I was out of work at the time. I'd rather give birth then go through that again. I'm making an apointment to get it removed tomarrow.