Dental care for preppers in an emergency

Important: this is not medical advice, we are not doctors or dentists. This is just a general article with our own thoughts and opinions. Always seek real medical/dentist expert advise if you suspect dental issues

There comes a point in prepping where you may have blind spots in accumulated gear and skills. That is okay but, education is still necessary or at the very least having something that could cover a potential weak spot in your preps. Of course, in this article, a dental kit will be treated as a specialized skill and gear that is tailored to doing dental work on someone in an emergency. In this article, we will go over the different pieces of the dental kit you’ll need,

What you need to Make Your Own Dental Kit

The advantage of having a homemade dental kit is to make it with the exact layout of what you want. It makes things simpler and can be a very organized way of using a kit. However, you can find premade kits but, they may be unnecessarily expensive compared to a kit that can be done with the benefits of learning how to use it.

• Headlamp
• Dental Picks
• Surgical Gloves
• Tweezer set
• Gauze
• Temporary filling
• Sterile Cotton Balls
• Toothache drops and other pain relievers
• Dental Wax
• Extracting Forceps

All of these items are specific to emergency uses only. The most useful pieces of gear from this kit may be using the dental pick, Tweezers, and pain relief management.

The temporary filling set is very useful, and most packages have multiple uses that you can get out of them.

Although the method of placing the filling is by cementing it back on and in some cases, it could last for more time than expected, in a survival situation that may be all that you have.

Possible causes of Tooth pain and Solutions

It is important to know that a problem that starts with a lack of oral hygiene can be solved with oral hygiene but, because of harmful bacteria that could accumulate from neglect of your teeth and gums, an infection could become so serious that it affects other parts of the body.

Here are some infections and possible causes of it:

Candida

This is a gut bacterium that could grow in the gut due to overconsumption of sugar. Sugar being the number one cause of cavities can also cause extreme pain and make the affected person extremely lethargic.

Ulcers

This type of infection can spread throughout the body and just by starting from the mouth and would be caused by biting the inside of the cheek. A mouth ulcer is often not seen as dangerous but, could be a sign of a more serious disease such as diabetes, celiac disease, or inflammatory bowel disease just to name a few.

Respiratory Diseases

It may be unusual to think that a cold or something that seriously affects your breathing can affect your oral health but, there are some instances of truth. For example, when sick with a cold or you may have serious congestion- the natural thing to do is breathe through the mouth. This adds to the inflammation within your body and can dry out your mouth causing a lack of enzymes in the mouth to break down food, and it gets stuck longer. Thus, more opportunities for infections.

Conclusion

The best possible way to avoid bad dental health is continuous care of your teeth even if you don’t have access to a conventional toothbrush.

It is possible to make do with whatever is available to you. Such as creating a toothbrush by fraying the end of a twig so that it can become bristle-like and be used as a brush.

Another possible solution is by making a saltwater solution and using a rag to rub it on your gums and teeth. But, it all comes down to prevention do what you can to look after your body every day and those measures will pay off.

But our more important advice: seek a medical/dentist professional!