dental care

An odd question occurred to me the other day while brushing my teeth. If I had to bugout as you all say, what would I do for a toothbrush?

Even if you packed 100 toothbrushes, you would go through them before the end of a lifetime.

Now in the immediate sense, oral hygiene may not seem important. But it is.

If you want to chew that gamey meat your gonna eat, you need your teeth. Infections can prove deadly. The pain alone would drive you nuts.


and quite frankly, I have seen the dental tools in the Civil war museum, that is not an era of history I care to live.
I am still horrified from the breast cancer scene from the John Adams series.

So I am gonna do some research into what I can do in my environment to establish some kind of dental routine.

My question for you is, do you have a dental bugout plan?

If you do, do you have any good suggestions?

[edit on 6-8-2009 by nixie_nox]

maybe a person could brush sand around in their mouths. it's kinda funny putting dirt in your mouth to clean teeth but if mix with toothpaste and water maybe it would work.
Just off the top of my head tho. also one could peel apart small branches of some sort of tree that bent but didn't break.
good question i never thought about that.
maybe just bring 200 instead and leave that pesky cantene at home

Without breaking out my survival library, there are numerous leaves that natives have used for thousands of years as toothbrushes.

Even Les on Survivorman had a bit on it.

I'd suggest checking out a few of the more common survival manuals and you should be able to find the answer pretty quickly.

Kinda off topic but not really...
Several years ago scientists reported discovering a a bacteria that fed off of placque. The initial findings were that once introduced to the mouth that it would eliminate cavities...They were awaiting FDA approval and it disappeared. I remember the test subjects were being asked to "make out" with another group to see if the baacteria would transmit that way...so I know this was out there....anyone ever hear of it?

No placque would be a good thing

being a survival expert myself, there are many things out there that can be used for a good ole toothbrush. For one a nice evergreen branch, preferrably pine or cedar due to smaller needles. Also after your done brushing you can eat the needles for a big vitamin C boost. Also some different tea plants out there are good for brushing up.

reply to post by nixie_nox


I have a friend who was in Africa for a year doing work for the Peace Corps. Oh, what a rude awakening she found. lol. She brought one toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste with her. The toothpaste soon ran out and the toothbrush lost it's effectiveness soon after. But being of an inqusitive mind, she soon asked the locals what they do for cleaning their teeth. And she found out they used the wood of a particular tree to scrape their teeth and to push out debris from between their teeth. By the way, she has a beautiful white smile to this day. Scrape your teeth with splinters of green wood and clean between your teeth with said splinters. All will be well. Oh, and a bit of mint leaves or whatever other leaves you can find that are aromatic will cleanse your breath.

Find a small stick and chew on one end of it for a while until it 'frays', now youve got yourself a makeshift toothbrush.

reply to post by nixie_nox


In a SHTF scenario, were I to live long enough to actually run out of toothpaste, I would use the coals from the fire method to brush my teeth. On a canoeing trip to Canada with the scouts we used the coals from the previous evenings fire to brush our teeth in the morning.

Essentially, you take a coal and rub it across your teeth until it completely degrades, then you get another coal and repeat until you have brush your entire mouth. I know it sounds odd, but the coals had no taste and did a very good job of brushing your teeth. Once you were done you simply rinsed your mouth out with water. If you swished it around a bit before spitting, you even get between your teeth.

reply to post by nixie_nox


A wet washrag works at getting the plaque off quite well. A twig, kinda smash the end of it and use it as a toothbrush. Baking soda is very effective at removing plaque, mix with a little antiseptic mouthwash for a double action paste.

I have a simple remedy for cavity pain, or toothaches, .... dont buy that crap at the store, .... just mix alot of salt with warm water. hold that in your mouth over your tooth for 3 to 5 minutes, ... the pain will go away, guaranteed !!!

I guess the pain is caused by inflamation, ... the salt will make it go away for some reason, ..... it works, and its simple and cheap. try it !!

Great ideas everyone, thank you!

Gonna read up on what can be used as a backup toothpaste.

Nobody makes tootheache drops worth a damn except Red Cross made from eugenol. That's all I know, I want to find out where this stuff comes from. But some of you may want to know something to stock up on that's worth something to trade if necessary. We all well begin making our own liquor and no doubt drink ourselves to death. As a matter of fact high proof vodka did take away some toothache pain. Also you can't eat any meat with bad teeth, nor can a baby. Grinding machines are worth money. But let's face it 50% of people are probably going to die, and those that live are left behind so they will be sad without the one's they were used to. Some manage to live and tell some other's in stranded places what's going on and some news. All this largely because liars are rampant in the world. Secrets are rampant. Competition for independance, drugs, sex, and insolence, and rotten attitudes are causing all this. What I think is happening is the aliens need to come and take over and they won't put up with people they can't control.

Given the number of different mint flavored brands of toothpaste out there, it makes sense to go with some of the suggestions here of using leaves.

If mint can't be found perhaps a porcupine would suffice.