General Dental Preps

[Reasonable Rascal]

Originally posted 05/26/01

Okay, here's a medical prep area that even a habitual packrat like me is deficient in: Dental preps. Yep, extracting teeth, filling cavities, cleaning, capping, etc. Face it, how you gonna chew that jerky without teeth?

One of the simplest things people seek are extractors. Sure, you *could* use Vice-Grips or fashion a pair using narrow-jawed pliers, but do you really want to go second best here? So, you decide you need some *real* extractors designed for the job.

Did you want molar, cuspid, or bicuspid extractors? There *is* a difference. There are also canine, incisor, upper and lower (molar, incisor, pre-molar, etc) styles, root extractors and more. Extractors are a good idea but one pair will not suffice for all.

Now as to where to find such items: There are a few sources available to the public, the local hardware store not being one of them unfortunately. You can order them direct from factories in Pakistan though they aren't real keen on selling only 1 or 2. Most of my personal instruments are German, extremely expensive to acquire and not recommended for that reason alone but the quality of the Paki stuff is more than suitable for a team or home kit. They were acquired here and there over time as lucky finds when I'd buy mixed lots of instruments and such.

Another good source is eBay, with the caveat that what you most often get are worn used instruments with limited remaining service life, and usually sold in lots of several instruments with one or two desirable models and a bunch of stuff that wouldn't attract much attention otherwise. Bottom line, they are available.

Other items worth having, for yourself, or if you are blessed with great teeth and a strong genetic disposition towards same, trade, are dental syringes, dental needles, cotton rolls and more. I also have fillings, stainless steel crowns, and a few other goodies. I'm looking for a manual powered dental drill
- have seen one on eBay but didn't have the bux at the time.

I imagine a person could come up with a basic dental drill using a Dremel tool with a flex shaft and a variable speed control. Please, anesthetic for me. But it's still beat losing the chewing teeth we need to be able to eat things other than gruel.

More items to have would include Oil of Cloves, an abundance of dental floss, perhaps floss picks for daily carry, extra toothbrushes - the soft bristle ones are better for you long-term - lots of toothpaste, or baking soda as a substitute. Toothpaste travels better as it's not affected by moisture.

Dental reference books would be great to have. How do you use those dental syringes anyway? How do you extract a broken root? Grind out a cavity for a filling placement? My own library includes:

Textbook of Practical Oral Surgery

Local Anesthesia and Pain Control In Dental Practice

Manual for Dental Technicians

and of course

Where There Is No Dentist

All but the latter came off of eBay but finances allowing I'll be scrounging used bookstores as well for more. Again, like any other medical concerns knowledge is power/tradeable when it comes to dentistry and the system is broken.

Feel free to add to the ideas here. That's what the forums are for. I could only wish I had all the answers.

RR "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit"

[Reasonable Rascal]

Original reply by Nego Meteure

don't forget those cool little temp fillings and crown cement packs available at the Drug store, very handi. I even reset my 8 y/o's Crown with it and the dentist let it stay as the tooth would be coming out in a few months any way. Points not well made on instuctions on box. clean area to be repaired very well, Peroxide rinse? must be totally dry before applying cement! really good stuff!!

[Reasonable Rascal]

Originally posted 07/03/01 by Mushroom

Don't forget that prevention is worth a pound of cure. We store plenty of dental floss for cleaning between teeth, but also make mouth wash from our favorite flavor of herb tea with Everclear (99% grain alcohol) and tea tree oil kept in suspension with food grade glycerine. If you also wish to use colloidal silver, that is also an option for keeping the bacteria population in check. Swish forcefully between teeth to dislodge any placque that may have been missed with a brush and floss. You will be surprised what you will find has been missed. This
mouthwash is also a good for heading off sore throats. In any case, keeping the bacteria populations under control is the aim in controling dental problems.

[Reasonable Rascal]

Originally posted 07/18/01 by Morrigan

Yep, no doubt about the oral hygiene. Did you see Castaway? I would say prevention would be a big piece of avoiding problems, but if they come, just remember cleanliness. In the plantation days, people died from tetanus gotten from rusty tools - you want to avoid having your teeth pulled by the "horse doctor."
Toothpaste! Toothbrushes! Even baking soda is better than nothing.

[Reasonable Rascal]

Originally posted by Wodan

You should always have a toothbrush. (Keep spare in the vehicle, BoB, etc.) If you don't you can do an ok job by chewing/fraying the end of a green stick and using that a couple times a day. A rag rubbed over the teeth works "ok" too - I reckon you could put salt on it to give it more grip. Bad teeth can ruin your whole day.

Keep up on your dental care - don't let those problems "fester" :smile: Emergencies have a way of happening.......unexpectedly - Be Prepared.

[Reasonable Rascal]

Originally posted 07/31/01 by Pygmy

The indians used the root of the wild strawberry as a tooth cleaner.

[Reasonable Rascal]

Originally posted by Barbie and Ken 10/21/01

Hi. I'm not normally on these boards, but my husband showed me your dental preparedness post because I'm a dental assistant. I've been in dentistry for nearly 20 years and due to my experience, I thought I'd throw in my two bits, especially in the area of "extractors." The name is actually "forceps," but your meaning is obvious. As far as needing forceps for all these different kinds of teeth (molars, premolars or bicuspids, cuspids or canines, and incisors), really there are two different forceps that fit the bill for practically any tooth. For uppers, there is the 150 universal forcep. Most dentists will use this one first and only another if there's some unusual reason why. There are other choices, but the 150 would be the one you'd want for an emergency or survival preparedness kit. For the lowers, you'd want the 151 universal. That's pretty much it. You'd need elevators, which are used like little crowbars to pry or loosen, basically. One elevator would fit most needs. True, there are root tip forceps and many, many other oral surgery instruments. But do you really want the entire array of instruments that a dentist would have? It would be incredibly expensive to get all of those. Dental instruments aren't cheap at all. So I'm saying that the 150 and 151 would be best, and maybe an elevator for extraction needs. Yes, oil of clove is good for pain. In addition, a material called IRM (intermediate restorative material) is a powder and liquid that are mixed together (contains oil of clove) and you can make temporary fillings with it. It's medicinal as well. There are quite a few other things that dentists use that would be great to have. You hit on many of them. Anyway, hope this is helpful.

Edited for problems with the word filter. RR

[ This Message was edited by: Barbie & Ken on 2001-10-21 08:08 ]