The Master Medical Shopping List has been one of the most popular articles on this blog, and truly, we will need a wide variety of medical supplies and medicines to survive and thrive in the challenging times before us.
However, we often forget the importance of dental supplies, and to be perfectly honest, I haven’t addressed dental issues much. It’s time to fix that.
Dental problems currently constitute about 10% of visits to the emergency room; those numbers won’t likely change when we’re in a collapse scenario. Keeping our teeth clean and healthy will go a long way towards making sure we keep our teeth. Storing basic essential treatment supplies and medications will provide dentists the items they will need to care for us when the supply chain has deteriorated completely, or allow us to provide rudimentary care when no dentist is available.
Like with everything, it is better to prepare and prevent than repair and repent. To prepare and prevent cavities, have (and use) the following:
Basic Hygiene
Dental floss
Toothbrushes, to be replaced every 3-6 months, enough to last the duration of the collapse and a few months beyond
Toothpaste
(coconut oil and baking soda can substitute)
All of the
following are commonly used pain relievers when dealing with dental
issues.
Pain relievers
Acetaminophen
Aspirin
Clove oil
Orajel
You do not need to have all of the following antibiotics, but you should have at least 2-3 in the event of dealing with a resistant infection. Amoxicillin, penicillin, and erythromycin are the most commonly used. Metronidazole is essential in the event of dealing with anaerobic bacteria. Tetracycline should not be given to children.
Antibiotics
Amoxicillin
Augmentin
Azithromycin
Cephalexin
Clarithromycin
Erythromycin
Metronidazole
Penicillin
Sulfonamide
Tetracycline
These common items are used in cleaning, rinsing, and disinfecting.
Common household items
Baking soda
Coconut oil
Hydrogen peroxide
Listerine
Salt
The
following dental supplies should be part of every kit. Cotton pellets will help absorb saliva when
teeth are being worked on. Dental wax
has numerous applications, including being used to splint teeth in place with suturing
wire. Eugenol relieves pain and also
combines with zinc oxide to make an excellent dental cement, or you can buy the
little temporary dental cement kits.
These don’t last long, but well enough to provide relief until
professional care can be obtained.
Dental supplies
Cotton pellets
Dental wax
Eugenol (oil of clove)
Mouth guard
Temporary dental cement
Wire (suturing wire—very fine gauge)
Zinc oxide
The following dental tools are a minimum for your kit. You can often get these for free from your dentist, as many are disposable. My son told his dentist he wanted them (true) for working on his guns.
Dental tools
Dental mirror
Dental instruments--Nabor's, Michigan, and explorer probes
Extraction forceps
Both of the following references are free downloads. If you haven’t got Survival and Austere Medicine, 3rd Edition yet, do so soon. Of all the off-grid medicine references I’ve seen, this one has the most detail about various dental issues.
References
Survival and Austere Medicine, 3rd Edition
Where There Is No Dentist is a free download that provides specific instructions on a wide variety of dental issues, including how to fill a cavity: https://hesperian.org/books-and-resources/
Links to related posts:
Survival and Austere Medicine, 3rd Edition
https://www.dentalcare.com/en-us/professional-education/archived-course-pdf >>>> fantastic site for downloading free PDFs on just about every dental subject imaginable ....
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