Dental Hygiene is an extremely underrated prep
Posted by Panjaab1@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 61 comments
I find the prepper community does not talk about this much, but dental hygiene is an extremely important prep. I am not even talking about toothbrushes and toothpaste in your bug out bag. I am talking about going to the dentist and getting a checkup every 6 months to a year.
The reason being is an a time of emergency, a cavity can be extremely painful or deadly depending on the level of shtf. If its a financial emergency a cavity or the potential infection that results can be extremely expensive to get fixed if you don't have insurance.
In a full out shtf situation, a cavity can result in an infection that can spread to your bone and cause sepsis.
TLDR: Its important to have your dental hygiene and health squared away before an shtf situation in the form of check ups.
BallsOutKrunked@reddit
In the book Where There is no Dentist, 80% of it is not drinking soda/juice, not eating candy, and proper flossing and brushing.
RecentRiver3534@reddit
Your organ bacteria health has more to do with it. Some people eat candy all day and never get cavities, others brush all the time yet always have cavities. The gut bacteria has to be in balance and is just as crucial!
foot_down@reddit
Yep, I've been eating low carb, barely any alcohol for a decade now and my teeth are pristine in middle age. My brother eats sugar and seems to need constant dental work. I only have a sugary treat maybe monthly, otherwise just a piece of fruit for dessert some days, brush and floss daily. My dentist said I'm what he calls a "10min client".
Independent-Report16@reddit
A huge part of this is also genetics. I’m a sugar monster and have never had a cavity in my life and am also a 10 minute client at the dentist! I brush and sometimes floss, but just honestly have great genes.
foot_down@reddit
Yes, can't deny a genetic component with teeth too. My immediate family is riddled with fillings and yet I've only ever had 3 fillings and a precautionary wisdom tooth extraction in my 20s when I was a young sugar monster too. Nothing since I quit sugar though. I'm also the only one who still drinks a lot of milk as an adult. Correlation isn't causation but it's still interesting.
mediocre_remnants@reddit
This comes up every once in a while. Doing normal adult things is not "a prep", it's called being a healthy and well-adjusted adult.
So yeah it's not surprising that the prepper community doesn't talk about things that everyone already does, unless they have some mental health issues that are preventing them from doing it.
JRHLowdown3@reddit
Plus 1. More people need to "get" that part. Too many threads with literally common sense stuff- "don't forget to put gas in your car" gets 1000 "upvotes". Meanwhile threads with actual useful preparedness info get little attention and/or ridiculous arguments over 'tuesday' and dumb shit like that.
foot_down@reddit
Also consider getting wisdom teeth removed now, x-ray and the dentist will tell you if they're likely to cause problems later. Mine all came through ok except one that was angled sideways with potential to get infected. Got it yanked out immediately because I'd rather spend a bit now than die from it in bad times. Also took daughter to get hers checked at 18 years old, fully prepared to pay for them to come out if they looked problematic.
David_C5@reddit
Wisdom teeth issues are related to the food you eat in the younger years.
If you only eat soft food, compared to if you ate more harder foods, the jaw size doesn't grow as much does the extra room taken up by the wisdom tooth creates issues. If you eat harder foods it grows enough so you don't need to worry about that.
I'm used to eating harder foods when younger thus I didn't have to take them out, neither does my brother. When I went to the dentist about it he said it was growing perfectly.
SheistyPenguin@reddit
I had four impacted wisdom teeth. They weren't bothering me in my early 20's, but the way my dentist put it to me was:
Sooner or later, these WILL start causing problems with your other teeth, and they will need to be extracted with surgery. The younger you are when you get them removed, the faster you will recover and the fewer complications you will have. So I got them extracted earlier.
Recovery was pretty rough for 20-something me, I imagine it being that much worse in my 30's and I'm glad I did it early!
HitIerWasWrong@reddit
My buddy got his done in his thirties and was out longer by like a day. The real wisdom is getting it done on your parents' insurance because those bills are crazy.
Waste-Relation-757@reddit
Yes. My wife had a brain abscess in 2020 and nearly died because of a bad root that never got spotted by our now former dentist.
This left het with chronic pain, epilepsy and a lot of other problems that have severely degraded her quality of life.
THC_Dude_Abides@reddit
Water and baking soda. Which you already probably have in your preps.
leggomyeggle@reddit
I keep multiple tubes of toothpaste in the bag. It works great on superficial non-emergent burns, bug bites, and poison ivy. (Apparently poison ivy. I haven’t tested it)
beaglemama@reddit
Yep. Also keep some temporary filling stuff around like Temparin so in case you lose a filling/crown/whatever you can slap that on it and be OK for a day or two until you can see a dentist.
kuru_snacc@reddit
Also this brings up the very important prep concept of hemostasis (which people over-focus on meaning just GSWs or large limb injuries) but having the proper packing and technique to stop a bleeding tooth socket from an emergency extraction is quite important too. Also knowing which meds increase vs. slow bleeding (aspirin, antiplatelets/anticoagulants; Vit K etc.) can help, along with opting for someone else to do it (the pain is likely to make you pass out and you don't want to be bleeding and passed out). There's actually a relatively helpful video on Youtube out there of a broke couple DIY tooth extraction. DO NOT TRY AT HOME I am just saying in an emergency SHTF scenario!
yuvsadioura@reddit
Honestly, for what you’re describing, Starlink is probably the least painful option. Boosters and antennas only really help if there’s at least a usable whiff of signal to work with, and if you’ve basically got none, you’re just polishing a turd.
If you ever wanted a more permanent setup, that’s where a proper telecommunications tower or point-to-point wireless link comes into it. Not exactly the cheap-and-cheerful option, but that’s the sort of thing companies like Wave1 handle for hard-to-serve sites at least here in Australia. For once-a-month use though, I’d just go Starlink and move on.
preppers-ModTeam@reddit
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CremeLoose2407@reddit
Completely agree — and this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I'm based in rural Japan, and with the current oil crisis hitting us hard here, I've been mentally running through all the things that become much harder to access if supply chains break down further. Dental care is absolutely one of them. Stock up on floss, fluoride, and pain relief now while you still can.
Hot-Layer-7624@reddit
I’ve always thought about this
Professional-Can1385@reddit
Poor dental hygiene can lead to heart problems as well. An easy step in having a healthy body is having a good dental hygiene routine.
ElectronGuru@reddit
Inflammation anywhere = inflammation everywhere
I’ve gotten religious with both flossing between teeth and water picking my gum lines.
baardvark@reddit
Interesting. Can you elaborate?
Captain_Taggart@reddit
not the person you're responding to, but it can be hard for some people (myself included) to properly floss the full gum line. I can get in between my teeth and some of the gum line around my teeth, but not all of it. So I use a water pick to get where I can't reach comfortably with the floss.
BookLuvr7@reddit
This is why I have my own dental tools. I've been doing my own mini-cleanings in between official cleanings for years.
Poor dental health increases risk of blood clots, so DVTs, heart attack, strokes, bodywide inflammation etc are all at higher risk with the bacteria getting straight into the bloodstream that has immediate access to the brain.
CzIitz@reddit
Fish Mox, anyone stock any/take any of that?
iamliberty@reddit
The book Where There is no Dentist is definitely one to have on the shelf. Though I see a lot dental tools on websites and stores.
I recently bought antibiotics from a company called Survival Scripts so that I have them for just this situation. It would be no fun to remove a rotten tooth but infection is a guarantee, and I just wouldnt wanna have only herbal remedies to fight an infection in my kids' or wife's mouth.
Eredani@reddit
Let's not confuse basic adulting with prepping. Things like dental exams, emergency funds, insurance, eating right, managing your credit score, basic fitness and so on are all important. But these are prerequisites for prepping. They are the foundation for disaster preparedness but separate from it.
Having great oral or financial hygiene does nor make you a prepper. It helps make you an adult.
arkH3@reddit
You'd be surprised at the proportion of global adult population that does not have great oral hygiene. Either because dental care is inaccessible / unaffordable, and/or because in their subculture it is not the norm.
invisiblebody@reddit
Dental health is a privilege and it is sad how being poor means it’s something that falls to the wayside. Bad teeth don’t always mean lazy or never brushes, but too many people assume that.
JRHLowdown3@reddit
+1 A lot of "great info" here is just common sense adulting like you mentioned. A post about "don't forget to put gas in your car" (duh!) gets 1000 "upvotes" and wow, did you know your underwear elastic gives out over time? Groundbreaking!! +1000 upvotes. These are general LIFE things. Like how TF did you get to adulthood NOT knowing that sort of thing??? Hell I was raised by (absentee) wolves and figured these sorts of things out! LOL
Meanwhile, QUALITY posts about gardening, communications systems, long term food storage, Lo Ra and Mesh stuff I don't even understand (but know I have to learn) barely get any interest. Then a few people here get mad when I say most new "preppers" aren't really serious- but they are proving my statement with their actions/lack of interest in actual preparedness material. LOL.
TraditionalBasis4518@reddit
There are crude dental first aid kits available , but in a health care logistics collapse, the solution to dental abscess and periodontal disease is tooth extraction. Infected teeth are typically easy to remove as the gums recede due to infection and fistulation. Might be wise to add a dentist to your mutual assistance group, and add dental extraction forceps and elevators to your emergency medical supplies. Whole cloves were used for local anesthesia, or a shot of rum for sailors. Dentists and podiatrists also have the credentials necessary to purchase iv solutions, antibiotics, anesthetics, analgesics and medical supplies, making them an excellent prepper resource.
shitpisscockfucktit2@reddit
This community is cool as shit. Flossing your teeth because one day society will collapse, everyone will be dying...but you dont want a tooth problem in that environment! Really? Brilliant.
wakanda_banana@reddit
Also lasik, being able to see without contacts or glasses is critical
Additional_City5392@reddit
Padma Basic!
Previous-Pomelo-7721@reddit
I thought I was the only one lol. I’ve been stocking up on toothpaste tablets, I have a few years worth now.
ValMo88@reddit
Another alternative is baking soda to mix with toothpaste.
Ra_a_@reddit
I think it’s usually high up on the prep list.
Not underrated at all
QueenCatherine05@reddit
I feel this way about cats and prepping.
JRHLowdown3@reddit
Other than getting a massage once a month, this is the main medical thing we spend money on regularly/schedule regularly. Have a couple friendly docs, PAs, nurses, etc. so we regularly run stuff by them, they will order tests for us as needed- MRI's for muscle/soft tissue injuries, etc. But I don't have a friendly dentist in our circle.
Couple observations-
There was a period of ten years (long while back)we didn't go to the dentist at all- couldn't afford it. We brushed regularly, used floss and picks, etc. I did drink 1-2 sodas a day back then (usually driving to work) but I also kept Listerine in the car. As soon as I finished a soda I swished with Listerine. When we did start going to dentist again I didn't have any cavities- that would have been the first 10 year period in my life without having any.
Just like anything else in life, when you go to the dentist pay attention to what they are doing and ask questions relating to it. Most will like that you want to know more about the subject. Avoid any nonsense talk- "preps" what to do in an emergency vis a vis dentistry, etc. Just ask about what they are doing. "So you are tapping on the teeth to see if there is any pain? Does that then show a cavity is in that tooth?" These aren't crazy questions, they are things someone interested in their health would ask. Keep it to 1 or 2 questions like that. If your dentist doesn't want to address basic questions or acts in a belittling way, then find another one. It's YOUR health after all, not theirs. Don't argue, don't be a PITA, just pay attention to what they are doing.
I did this at the vet with our cats, we know the vet pretty well. I was watching while he did a physical on our cat. I asked a question and he said "well, doing a physical on an animal is a lot like doing a physical on a human." Duh, why the hell didn't I look at it that way? A lot of the same organs/systems, etc.
I heard he died but there was a dentist in middle TN that was offering Field Dentistry classes years ago. We attended several of them but the last one was maybe 2010'ish?? He did an excellent job in the 2 day class and we learned how to replace fillings, pull teeth, use Matrix bands, etc. he even had plans for a drill setup that used refillable compressed air- we used that in class. He had collected teeth that he pulled for free from indigent folks that he placed into little cups and drilled holes in- we used those to practice fillings-
Guy was a remarkable survivalist to have thought up some of this stuff. Sadly I heard he died. The next Thanksgiving after taking the class my nephew lost a filling while up visiting and had a big hole in a back tooth. I know him and he wouldn't have gone to the dentist for a long while... I offered to fill it and he said. So at my Mom's Thanksgiving table I had him lay back in a chair that was propped against my lap (also sitting down) and I filled the tooth there at the Thanksgiving table. I told him "go to your dentist when you get back home, don't put it off." 2 years later.... he told me he had just been to the dentist- 2 flipping years... He said his dentist said "your dentist in GA did good with this filling, did it give you any problems?" He replied no. Thanks Dr. Tom for the info on how to do things like this, RIP sir.
Professional-Can1385@reddit
Very cool Thanksgiving! When I had a Thanksgiving dental problem, my crown broke off with most of my tooth. The tooth that was left was in 4 pieces. I bet you could have glued it back together until I got to the dentist. That’s what he did the next day until I could start the implant procedure.
Speaking of vets, my vet tells me what he’s doing while he does it and why. He shows me any images and tells me about them and encourages questions. I love him. I’m going to start asking my dentist more questions. I like to learn and you have inspired me! I even have a dentist appointment tomorrow.
JRHLowdown3@reddit
Yikes on the broken tooth!
My vet is awesome also and you have to be able to help your animals also if they need it, so this is another area of study. A couple good vet books/guides in the pic below-
ItsNotGoingToBeEasy@reddit
What compound for a filling did you have on hand at Thanksgiving?
JRHLowdown3@reddit
IRM.
You used to be able to get it off Ebay shipped from England.
AbleTeam6734@reddit
I have a toothbrush and toothpaste in my bag, I figure if I use it sparingly I can get a couple months out of the tube
Mysterious_Degree388@reddit
Also dental floss can be used for covenant simple string.
Professional-Can1385@reddit
I use it all the time for sewing buttons back on. I have a special sewing spool of floss that isn’t plastic, isn’t waxed, and isn’t flavored/scented.
ItsNotGoingToBeEasy@reddit
Knew an off the grid guy in Hawaii that had them all pulled in his 50s so he wouldnt have to worry about them.
maxsmoke105@reddit
Many years ago I read an article in one of the outdoor/hunting magazines where the writer lost a crown while out on a guided trip. Either he or the guide had a crown repair kit which saved the trip.
I knocked off a my first crown about a year after I got it and went the weekend making sure I didn't do more damage before my Monday "emergency" dental visit. I was not able to find a repair kit anywhere. You can be that when I finally saw that CVS had those kits in stock I made sure to grab a couple.
Subenca@reddit
Found out last month that after several years of “watching” several molars 🦷 I finally need 3 crowns. I have no dental insurance, but using my emergency fund I’m biting the bullet and getting all three done immediately—over $6K. I knew it was going to happen and saved. Dental hygiene and care is the foundation of our body systems.
EN344@reddit
I cracked a molar and didn't know it. It was the worst pain I've ever had until I got the root canal.
Many-Health-1673@reddit
According to Healthline - up to 1908, dental infections still ended in death between 10 to 40 percent of the time.
AlphaDisconnect@reddit
Any dental hygiene is better than none. Have 100 grams of sodium fluoride on hand.
Very-Confused-Walrus@reddit
Teeth? Nah I’m trynna quit
Senior_Green_3630@reddit
An electric tooth brushshould run off a home solar/battery system.
BallsOutKrunked@reddit
You only need to floss the teeth you want to keep.
Calm-Emphasis-8590@reddit
Ignore your teeth.
They will go away.
Alanosie@reddit
Thank you for the reminder to book a new appointment
Zoya2020@reddit
Very true. Had a great grandmother that died from a tooth infection. That side is very big on dental hygiene now.
Additional_Insect_44@reddit
Thats a good idea. I know mother never had any of that stuff and was living in the sticks, as a kid she had her first debtal care in decades and was much better after
panzertodd@reddit
Yes. This is truly a very under-talked topic.
We have taken modern dentistry for granted. I remember having a very bad toothache one day and it was quickly solved within the same day by going to a dentist.
In a real shtf, even a bad toothache can turn into a very bad infection and without modern working equipment and antibiotics, it can easily escalate.
That's why when I made a statement how in a nuclear exchange many ppl won't survive they mocked me but in reality they have taken so many things in the modern day for granted and they don't realize, survival is not just hiding in your bunker for a few weeks. It's what after that. Do you have the skill to extract a decaying wisdom tooth without causing major nerve damage? But hey, again some ppl thinks by buying more gasmask and Geiger counter will make you survive better in a nuclear exchange