This simple thing can bring a person down…

Dental Hygiene…

Did you know that dental hygiene is so much of an issue (to the tune of 100 billion $ per year!) that the military is designing “combat gum”.  A simple dental problem can be both demoralizing and debilitating.  In some cases, it can even be deadly.  For reference, think about the extreme measures that were taken in the movie Cast Away:

Those who are preparing need to not only think about weapons and bug out bags, but simple things such as body and dental hygiene.  Here are some keys steps you can take to prepare yourself for good dental hygiene:

• Download When there is no Dentist – This book teaches people in the field of third world countries how to deal with a whole variety of dental issues.  It is your best resource for dental care outside of a dentist office.
• Try to get all dental work performed NOW – There’s no way your going to be doing tooth extractions and other invasive procedures without a dentist and lidocaine.  It’s best to try to get these operations performed now.  To add to this, don’t even think about buying tooth extractors.
• Don’t stock up/eat lots of sugary/processed food – This is one of the biggest culprits of bad dental hygiene.  Diet plays a huge part in our overall health!
• Stock up on the simple & cheap instruments – Tooth Paste, Tooth Brushes, & floss.  For reference, there are some recipes out there to make your own homemade tooth paste.  Personally, I’ve tried many and have found them to be awful.  If you’re wanting them to taste good and end up purchasing essential oils to mix in, you’re ending up spending just as much money as traditional toothpaste.
• Buy a set of dental scalers – These are the instruments that remove plaque from your tooth (both visible enamel and that behind your gums).  Plaque results in an uneven/rough surface that allows bacteria to attach and easily multiple.  This results in the potential for gingivitis or other gum disease.  A set of scalers can be cheap (<$20) if you search around on ebay.  I have a set and I use them every so often with ease.
  
• Buy some cheap temporary dental cavity filling – You can find this in any grocery store and is a quick fix for dental issues.  However, for a long term event, you may need to have more of a permenant fix.  This is where glass ionomer comes in.
• Buy some glass ionomer – This is old school professional dental cement.  It’s still used in several third world countries to this day.  This can be used to fix caps or ppermanently or fill in cavities.  WARNING – because this is a permanent cement, you need to know how to use it.  The biggest failure is to seal a cavity that is actively decaying.  Any cavity needs to have decayed material removed before filling.  Otherwise, you could end up with worse problems (e.g. – tooth abscess).  The same rationale applies with suturing a wound that hasn’t been sufficiently cleaned.
  

In closing…

I work in a profession that makes consumer products like tooth paste.  Through review of our research, dental hygiene has A LOT to due with our individual mouth chemistry.  Some people take the BEST care of their mouth, but are extremely prone to cavities.  Others are more fortunate and get hardly any cavities without doing anything more than brushing twice a day.  If you know that you are prone to cavities, you should be putting more weight into how you will prepare for these events in the future.