How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It - James Wesley Rawles [67]
SurvivalBlog contributor The Army Dentist wrote the following piece:
Dentistry may be one of the least exciting topics under preparedness. But a dental emergency can quickly complicate or even bring to a standstill daily living and tasks. In a WTSHTF scenario this is not something you want to deal with.
I would like to present a summary of the caries process and the best way to prevent dental pathology in the first place, a simple way to recognize and/or loosely categorize dental symptoms, and some simple treatment alternatives until definitive care can be obtained.
Start by going to your dentist and having everything taken care of immediately. After all existing problems have been addressed, begin and maintain a preventive dental program—make it a habit. It is not a very difficult thing to do, and you can save thousands of dollars and a lot of pain by doing it.
Brush your teeth and limit your sugar intake. It really does work. If you can remove the bacteria, which predominantly resides in plaque, from your mouth, you will limit its ability to create acid. The sugar-intake frequency is more important than the amount of sugar. Every time you put sugar in your mouth, the bacteria will create acid for thirty minutes. If you drink one soda in ten minutes, and then consume no more sugar the rest of the day, then you will have acid in your mouth for only about 40 minutes. If you take the same soda and sip on it all day long, then you will have acid in your mouth all day long. Certainly limit the amount of sugar you ingest, but more important, limit the frequency with which you ingest it. Also, use a fluoride rinse every night. You should brush your teeth, rinse your mouth, drink water if you want, and then rinse with the fluoride. Then don’t put anything else in your mouth, and go to bed. The fluoride will sit on your teeth and make the enamel less soluble.
Toothpaste is good but not necessary in this regimen. Toothpaste is nothing more than a mild abrasive, flavoring, and fluoride. If you want to make your own, you can use fluoride rinse and baking soda, although baking soda is much more abrasive than commercially made toothpaste and can irritate your tissues.
If you do develop a carious lesion (a cavity), do not leave your tooth untreated. You will eventually end up with an abscess and the tooth will be extremely painful to the touch. You may begin to run a fever and experience swelling. Some people say it feels like the tooth has “raised up.” It has. The infection is pushing it up. If the infection, however, travels toward the tongue, neck, or sinuses, to name a few places, it can become very dangerous, very quickly. Possible complications include septicemia, airway obstruction, and pericardial infections. These are not common but are dangerous and need to be treated by a medical professional. Some of the symptoms of these serious infections include increased temperature, swelling under your jaw, under your tongue and around your chin, swelling extending toward your neck, swelling in your throat that may begin to push your uvula aside, and difficulty swallowing and/or breathing. Do not ignore these! Seek medical care immediately.
Eye Protection and Flushing
Eye protection is crucial. When anyone in my family shoots, we always wear eye and ear protection. Ditto whenever we use a chain saw. I use a Stihl brand “forestry” helmet with built-in earmuffs and a full-face mesh screen, although I’ve read that the Peltor brand may be superior. We now store our workshop face goggles right on top of our bench grinder, where we can’t forget to use them. This is a good practice for all safety gear. Store it alongside your tools—otherwise it will be “out of sight, out of mind.”
We don’t drink alcohol at the Rawles Ranch but we keep a shot glass handy, since they make an ideal eyecup for irrigating foreign matter out of an eye. I plan to add a mini-eye-wash station to our workshop. That is cheap insurance.
It is important to