Prepper’s Guide to Dental Equipment and Dental Exams

Dental equipment and dental exams are not often written about within the context of long-term survival.  This is surprising because our mouths are a portal into our body.  Oral bacteria and decay can quickly move throughout our system using saliva as a carrier.  The result is sickness and a compromised immune system.

In this newest article in our Survival Medic Series, Dr. Joe Alton explains what procedures and supplies we need to know about when dealing with dental health.

Why Dental Health is Important

Many of our readers are surprised that “The Survival Medicine Handbook: The Essential Guide for when Medical Help is Not on the Way” devotes a portion of its pages to dental issues. Indeed, few who are otherwise medically prepared seem to devote much time to dental health. Poor dental health can cause issues that affect the work efficiency of members of your group in survival settings. When your people are not at 100% effectiveness, your chances of survival decrease and anyone who has experienced a toothache knows how it affects work performance.

A survival medic’s philosophy should be that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It doesn’t take a dentist to know that. When it comes to your teeth, enforcing a regimen of good dental hygiene will save your loved ones a lot of pain (and yourself a few headaches).

This article will discuss procedures that are best performed by someone with experience. Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to have a dentist in your party. The information here will give you a basis of knowledge that may help you deal with some basic issues.

The Survival Dental Kit and Exam

The prepared medic will have included dental supplies in their storage, but what exactly would make sense in austere settings? You would want the kit to be portable, so dentist chairs and other heavy equipment wouldn’t be practical.

We’ve mentioned that gloves for medical and dental purposes are one item that you should have in quantity. Don’t ever stick your bare hands in someone’s mouth. Buy hypoallergenic nitrile gloves instead of latex. For additional protection, masks should also be stored and worn by the medic.

Other items that are useful to the survival “dentist” are:

Dental floss, dental picks, toothbrushes, toothpaste or baking soda

Dental or orthodontic wax as used for braces; even candle wax will do in a pinch. Use it to splint a loose tooth to its neighbors

A Rubber bite block to keep the mouth open. This provides good visualization and protection from getting bitten. A large eraser would serve the purpose

Cotton pellets, Cotton rolls, Q-tips, gauze sponges (cut into small squares)

Commercial temporary filling material, such as Tempanol, Cavit, or Den-temp

Oil of cloves (eugenol), a natural anesthetic. Often found in these commercial preparations such as these:  Red Cross Toothache Medicine (85% eugenol) and  Dent’s Toothache Drops (benzocaine in combo with eugenol)

Note:  It’s important to know that eugenol might burn the tongue, so be careful when touching anything but teeth with it.

Oral analgesics like Hurricaine or Orajel (Benzocaine)

Zinc oxide powder; when mixed with 2 drops of clove oil, it will harden into temporary filling cement

Spatula for mixing (a tongue depressor will do)

Oil of oregano, a natural antibacterial

A bulb syringe to blow air and dry teeth for better visualization, and as a diagnostic tool to elicit discomfort in damaged teeth

An irrigation syringe to clean areas upon which work is being done

Scalpels (#15 or #10) to incise and drain abscesses

Dental probes, also called “explorers”