Urban Survival Planning - Dental Care Planning

How many people are thinking about dental care either emergency or long term care in an environment where dentists may not be available? Do you have years worth of toothpaste, dental floss and new toothbrushes stockpiled?

I broke a tooth last week which got me thinking about unilateral dental care. Obviously prevention is key. In a post collapse world processed foods, fast foods and all the normal foods we see today laden with sugar will most likely not be available which will be actually good for our bodies and better for the health of our teeth.

I have personal hygiene kits vacuum packed in our Bug Out Bags,....soap, tooth brush, toothpaste, dental floss but am only now starting to stock more dental care items in my base station medical kits. I have a old complete set of military dental tools consisting of various picks, mirrors, dental spatulas and tooth extractors.

Survivor planners beginning a dental kit can find dental tools at the following sites:

http://www.duluthtrading.com/

http://www.surgicalsindia.com/

The Survival Group needs to plan on dental care well into a collapse, which, worst case, no routine dental care nor material and supplies will be available.

One thing you probably already stock in your medical supplies is hydrogen peroxide. And you may have had the foresight to stock baking soda in your stored long term food supplies. If so, you can make field expedient tooth paste by mixing 1 tablespoon of Baking Soda with one-quarter Tablespoon of Hydrogen peroxide. While not necessary, you could also add a drop of lemon juice or oil or cinnamon to add flavor.

Some other dental supplies and material you should think abut adding to your survival kit are dental cement and adhesives.

Dentemp One Step Dental Cement is available at Walgreens or Wal-Mart . Lost crowns as can either reapplied, once cleaned, or replaced using dental cement. Same for lost fillings. These will not be permanent but can last awhile if you are careful then re-done.

It may be necessary to pull a tooth - hence the necessary tooth extractors in your dental kit. You would probably be doing this without anesthesia. I got fortunate to pull a man's bottom molar without anesthesia (in Africa) and he actually thanked me for it. Maybe this is an excuse to stock some decent whiskey. Use your own judgment.

A couple of other possible problems are infections or abscesses occurring in the gum line. Competent medical treatment using anti-biotics is the preferred course of action, but if you don't have any other recourse, warm salt water (1 Teaspoon of salt in 6 ounces of water) will help and ease the pain, and may help to draw the infection or pus out of the gum tissue.

So, get any needed dental care done now and start planning and preparing for dental care and treatment in a degraded environment.