On my way out the door a few minutes ago, I grabbed a handful of popcorn to munch on the drive. Sure enough, one of the shards of husk got itself stuck in my teeth. The entire 10-minute drive was focused on trying to work it free with my tongue.
I was unsuccessful, of course, but it made me think about life after teotwawki — we’re going to miss a lot of simple things. Dental floss is going to one of them. At least it will after my stockpile runs out. It’s not that simple an item to manufacture. Without it, however, we’re back in the middle ages. Well, maybe a bit later than that.
Dental floss was “invented” in 1815 and was made from silk threads. (Making silk is certainly something the ultimate hard-core survivalist should know about.) Floss wasn’t made commercially until 1882 and it wasn’t until after World War II that it was made from nylon and other plastics, materials made from hydrocarbons that would be extremely hard to make with primative technology.
Today, only about a quarter of Americans floss their teeth — though probably three times that many tell their dentists they do — but many households keep it around and use it the week before going to the dentist and when it comes in handy, like after eating popcorn. Once the teeth loosen up in the gums a bit, more and more things seem to stick and a good flossing after consuming a steak is a most worthwhile activity.
Other dental supplies
Floss, of course, is just a metaphor for dental supplies in general. When we think “medical,” we don’t always consider oral health, yet without precautions, we could be in for some significant pain. Have you packed in your bug-out kit, for example, a toothbrush? While we can find substitutes for toothpaste — baking soda, for example — or while we can do without it, what can we substitute easily for a toothbrush? The mashed and shredded end of a green twig? I’d prefer to make sure I have a brush.
And how long would that brush last. We’re told — by the people who sell them, of course — to change our toothbrush every six weeks. It may last for six months or a year, but it certainly won’t last forever. So you might not want to just toss an old, worn-out version in your kit, but actually spend a couple of bucks to get a new one — and the kind people like and will use — for every member of the family.
If you’re thinking long-term, you might quite a few toothbrushes and related supplies.
At least for the medium term, you might want a year’s worth, say, of toothpaste. It doesn’t go bad and you’ll use it up regularly anyway. If your hygiene, as well as your user-friendliness, depends of mouthwash, you might want to stock that, as well.
You also might consider a plaque scraper, or “dental scaler,” to deal with the buildup of calculus. (See at bottom.)
Treating pain
While you undoubtedly will have some pain medication, from aspirin on up, in your medical kid, you might want to stock on some stuff that’s great for a toothache, and that’s oil of cloves. Since not many of us grow clove trees (most of them are in Indonesia, southern Asia and Africa), we need to stock up on this over-the-counter substance which gives almost immediate relieve on contact.
If you remember the 1976 movie Marathon Man, the evil Nazi war criminal dentist Sir Laurence Olivier drills into Dustin Hoffman’s teeth to get him to talk and then applies oil of cloves, to show how fast the pain will go away if only he’ll tell what he knows. Unfortunately for Dustin, he knows nothing, so the pain sequences continue, to the great anguish of the audience!
You can buy therapeutic-grade clove oil from Amazon (see below) for as little as $2.98 (when this was written) for a 10-ml bottle, so there’s no reason not to have it around the home and in your bug-out kit and at your survival cabin or in your cache.
There may be other dental items your family will need as well, such as denture-care products, or products to care for your daughter’s braces. Be sure to think dental when you’re putting your survival supplies together.
Dental Scaler, Hoe, Silicone Handle, Lateral, HSL34-35
Clove 100% Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil- 10 ml
By the way, if you want to watch a good movie with great acting — and you think you can handle it — Marathon Man is still available.
