Author Topic: The Dreaded Backwoods Dental Care (Read 6242 times)

madmax · « **on:** May 03, 2019, 05:43:20 PM »

1st. I have very sensitive teeth. Maybe it's because orthodontics was not not quite fleshed out when I had braces. It hurt. Maybe it's because they really didn't give a crap about pain management.

2nd. I know the USN didn't give a rodents rectum about how bad it hurt getting 2 molars chiseled (Yes they had to bust up the tooth) out. They gave me just enough gas to paralyze me. They literally had to put a knee on my chest to pry the pieces out. I could tell them what they said when I was under and they just blew me off. Well I guess back then you were government property.

3rd. I've been going to the U of F dental school to get my teeth worked on for about 6 months. Up until yesterday my dental student did a great job with the work and pain management. Then I went in for a filling. They call it a tooth reconstruction now. He pushed a needle waaay in there. 3 times. Still I'm ok for a bit. Then WANG! Hit nerve. More shots. Tried again to drill. WAAANG! No Bueno. A teacher came by and passed on some wisdom of pain management. Super secret nerve some people have. One shot under my tongue and I'm numb and drooling.

4th. I can barely open my mouth wide enough to spoon soup into me by the time I get home. Next morning I'm worse. I almost messaged Nick (student) asking if he was a latent sadist. But he is so nice he'd take it bad even if I was kidding.

So. SHTF and you get a toothache. You can clove oil it all you want until you run out but it doesn't fix the problem. I'm not Tom Hanks in "Cast Away". I think knocking the tooth out with a skate (or anything) is dumb. We all know the string and door and it worked for us when we were kids. But that won't yank a molar out.

Now, my serious question is, "How would you get that infected tooth out before you went septic and died?

wsdstan · « **Reply #1 on:** May 03, 2019, 06:24:33 PM »

I would go to a dentist, one that practices gentle dentistry and has the latest novacaine and other pain killer systems that are available.

If pulling it yourself is on your list, cross it off.

This advice is coming from a guy who tried to fix a broken tooth with JB Weld and once before with super glue. I have a broken bridge held in by a upper partial plate so my advice is kind of sleazy to begin with.

madmax · « **Reply #2 on:** May 04, 2019, 08:54:02 AM »

Hahaha! You're a stronger man than I. I thought about going to a dentist that will put you under general anesthetic. But most of the work has been done now.

That last appointment just got me thinking what I would do if the dentist was not reachable within a reasonable amount of time. Or not at all. I guess I will make sure I'm good for the long run always. It doesn't cost much to go to the U of F to maintain good teeth, so I'll just put that on my medical prep list.

xj35s · « **Reply #3 on:** May 05, 2019, 10:12:06 AM »

I had all but one tooth pulled. That one tooth happens to be a wisdom that didn't heal over properly. Now I have a hole that allows food to get in next to the wisdom. I will be getting it out as well very soon. Problem solved.
Having an improperly healed wisdom has prevented me wearing my dentures. That actually toughened up my gums so I can eat almost anything. carrots and nuts are still out, but I can eat celery for example. I've been putting it off for almost 10 years. Time flies by!!!!

wolfy · « **Reply #4 on:** May 05, 2019, 12:39:57 PM »

I have always feared a toothache on a longer canoe trip. Most over-the-counter pain medications give me little, if any relief.

One prescription med, hydrocodone, which was prescribed to me for pain following hip surgery, is an exception. I think my prescription was originally for 90 doses, but I only used about half of them. I sure as heck did not dispose of the remaining pills, though....they got distributed among several traveling first aid kits. Since they are a 'controlled substance' you run the risk of getting caught with a controlled substance which is not in the original marked pill bottle, especially when crossing an international boundary.....the solution to that was just to have my pharmacist provide duplicate bottles with the necessary prescription labels affixed to the empty bottles, so every kit had a legal stash of effective pain medication.

The result: Several first aid kits containing REAL pain relief that gives you peace of mind if something like a toothache rears its ugly head......AND no risk of being busted for illegal drugs because they have been legally prescribed for you!

madmax · « **Reply #5 on:** May 05, 2019, 01:06:24 PM »

Pretty smooth wolfy. When I was having bad hip and back pain I was offered pain meds. But I've had a monkey on my back a few times and I refused them. I wanted fixed, not medicated. In retrospect, I should have filled the prescriptions and done like you, dividing them among a few packs.

wsdstan · « **Reply #6 on:** May 05, 2019, 03:28:17 PM »

Being somewhat naive I just found out last year that it is illegal to carry prescription drugs in an unmarked bottle. The officer who told me that made no distinction about what kind of meds they were. Are all prescription drugs controlled substances?

wolfy · « **Reply #7 on:** May 05, 2019, 03:52:01 PM »

I guess so....or you would not need the prescription from the physician.

hayshaker · « **Reply #8 on:** May 13, 2019, 01:15:30 PM »

gosh you guys what do you think your leatherman tool is for. hmmmmmmm
oh yeah ditch medison. nurse more whiskey fer me an the victum er i mean patient.
ya that's the ticket.
but seriously tooth extraction in a post shtf situation
without anastiseia good luck with that
and yeah antibiotics as well. just saying

madmax · « **Reply #9 on:** May 13, 2019, 04:20:46 PM »

So I just thought of this. There is a thing called meth-mouth. The addicts teeth rot in their mouths. Are they so stoned they can't feel it? Or are they so stoned they don't care. It looks painful. So do street people just live with the pain? I haven't worked up to asking them. To them it is SHTF. Right now.

Alan R McDaniel Jr · « **Reply #10 on:** July 06, 2020, 07:19:58 PM »

Woke up one morning to go fishing. On the way to the lake a lower molar on the left side started tingling. By the time I got to the lake (15 min drive) it was more than tingling and I called the dentist. I told him I needed to come in that afternoon. I fished for an hour and loaded up and headed back with my head throbbing. I parked the truck with boat attached in front of the office and went in. He took a look and some xrays. He said it was infected and needed to get infection down before he did anything. gave me some hydrocodone and antibiotic. Two hours at home and I called him back and said he needed to remove the tooth or I was going to do it. I guess he sensed my seriousness and told me to come in. God only knows, I was serious. Three hours later he had bits and pieces of that molar on a tray. It took a good deal of pain meds to fix it. I asked him what the problem was. He said, "You're a fisherman. You know what a treble hook looks like? That's what the roots on that tooth looked like".

The sewed it up and sent me home with another script for hydrocodone. It was put to good use but the pain of having my jawbone pried apart was nothing compared to the pain of that abscessed tooth.

I asked him what people did back in the day when something like this came up and there was no dentist around. He answered that a lot of very crude and brutal dentistry was done and some of the patients died. I believe it.

Alan

randyt · « **Reply #11 on:** July 06, 2020, 07:42:01 PM »

here's a tutorial

Alan R McDaniel Jr · « **Reply #12 on:** July 06, 2020, 07:44:54 PM »

Yep, that about covers it....

Alan

wsdstan · « **Reply #13 on:** July 07, 2020, 05:33:33 PM »

When I was kid we pulled teeth with a string and slammed the door. Actually we tried it and it didn't work too
well. Just baby teeth of course.

I pulled a tooth with a leatherman a long time ago and was lucky to get no infection. I saw a video on George Washington's teeth a month or so ago, pretty interesting and they were not made of wood.

Alan R McDaniel Jr · « **Reply #14 on:** July 07, 2020, 06:43:09 PM »

I pulled a chunk of broken molar once with my Leatherman.

Won't be doing that one again...

Alan

hayshaker · « **Reply #15 on:** October 20, 2020, 05:58:00 AM »

back woods medicine and death from infection, hmmm. i had an abcess reciently
on a molar that's dead. what i mean is i had a root canal and crown installed. anyhow
do any and all dental care asap, we are going into BAD times.
you don't want to do dental buchery and then die like a miserable dog, for lack of proper care.
well that's mikeys 2cents

Dabberty · « **Reply #16 on:** October 21, 2020, 01:33:35 AM »

I heard that dental care is quite expensive in the US. An Indian friend of mine needed to go as well, and it was cheaper for him to fly back to India, do the dental work, and fly back, and still be under the price of the dental costs in the US.
Anyway, I don't mind going to my dentist, she is a mature beautiful woman, and her assistant is a gorgeous young lady, just finished school, and could be straight from the playboy mansion coming :-)

madmaxine · « **Reply #17 on:** October 21, 2020, 07:53:11 AM »

Yes Dabberty its expensive
I decided to take a chance at the FL College of Dentristry. Scary. Turns out I get FAR better care there than I ever got at a private dentist. At a fraction of the cost
I

wsdstan · « **Reply #18 on:** October 21, 2020, 08:58:03 AM »

It is very expensive Dabberty and where there is a college of dentistry it is a good thing to let them learn on you.

Rural area dentists used to be less costly than those in the large cities but the technology advances have changed that. The dentist we use is now more expensive for routine work than the dentists in larger towns. His charges for serious work like pulling teeth, making bridges or false teeth, implants and so forth will put the average person in some degree of financial distress.

Alan R McDaniel Jr · « **Reply #19 on:** October 21, 2020, 09:20:24 AM »

Where I go a crown costs about $1200 from start to finish.

These days I chew my $5 hamburgers with a high grade Browning Superposed.... at least that's what I could have bought instead of teeth.

For most of my life I had great teeth. Not many cavities or major problems. Then I hit 55 and they started falling apart.

Alan

wsdstan · « **Reply #20 on:** October 21, 2020, 12:06:07 PM »

I had poor teeth from when the first permanents showed up. Didn't help that I got my front teeth knocked out playing baseball at 14. Cavities and teeth that broke were numerous. Lots of crowns and filings. I could be riding a Heritage Softail for what we put in my mouth.

Alan R McDaniel Jr · « **Reply #21 on:** October 23, 2020, 01:23:01 PM »

I've been meaning to post this since the subject came up but I keep forgetting.

Chewing on one of these leaves for less than a minute will numb your whole mouth, or at least make you think it's numb. I've never tried it on a toothache but if all other methods fail (like going to the dentist) I'll give it a try.

Alan

Texas Toothache Bush.

https://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08/prickly-ashtoothache-tree.html

wsdstan · « **Reply #22 on:** October 23, 2020, 01:34:03 PM »

Don't have those in South Dakota on my place but I sure like the person who wrote what the other use is.

Alan R McDaniel Jr · « **Reply #23 on:** October 23, 2020, 02:19:06 PM »

And, they would be outstanding for that purpose and a heck of a lot of fun for the hitter!

Alan

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Author Topic: The Dreaded Backwoods Dental Care (Read 6242 times)