Dental Emergency Preparedness

You and your group are sitting around a roaring campfire enjoying the end of a long days hunting. You bite down on some trail mix and suddenly get a shooting pain in your mouth. You’ve just broken your first molar and are 4 hours from the nearest dentist. Now what? Believe it or not, this happens more often than we would like to believe. In a survival scenario, it may be days or weeks or never that you get to a dentist. So, what do you do?

The most important thing to do is to prepare for a dental emergency, just like you have prepared for food, electricity, shelter and self-defense. Prevention is the key to avoiding these situations. What does that mean? We have heard it since we were kids, “Brush twice a day, floss, and see your dentist twice a year.” Routine visits to the dentist can often times prevent those emergencies from happening. Often times those small cavities can be taken care of before they get out of control requiring crowns, root canals or extractions.

Most importantly, brushing and flossing regularly make the difference. When under stress the body will tend to develop inflammation more easily, including gingivitis, an inflammation of the gum tissue. So, when prepping for the worst-case scenario, be sure you have multiple toothbrushes and plenty of floss. In a pinch, you can use your finger or a washcloth to wipe the teeth clean. Even a twig can be used to stimulate the gums and clean the teeth.

So, what should you pack in your medical kit for dental emergencies? Here are some basics that need to be included:

1. Dental floss- also good for tying things down in a pinch.
2. Dental wax- can be melted down and used to make a candle if needed. Should be a soft type of wax.
3. Some type of Temporary filling material such as Cavit.
4. Temporary dental cement such as Den-temp for re-cementing crowns.
5. Cotton pellets for use with
6. Oil of cloves which are a substitute for Eugenol
7. A set of dental tweezers.
8. Tight fitting latex or vinyl gloves. The mouth carries more bacteria than any place in the body.

What causes a toothache and what should you do about it? A toothache is the result of injury to the nerve of the tooth. This can be the result of trauma or a deep cavity. If the nerve becomes infected, it can result in an abscess, which is an infection of the bone around the tooth that can be extremely painful. Often times an abscess can cause swelling around the tooth. The infection can spread to other parts of the head and neck resulting in difficulty swallowing and even in the ability to breath. This type of infection, if left untreated, can eventually cause an infection of the blood, which can lead to death. Don’t mess around with it.

How do we treat this on our own? First, figure out which tooth is causing the problem. Be sure the area in the tooth is cleaned out. Take a cotton pellet and soak it in Oil of Cloves, and place it in the cavity. Be sure you don’t get it on the soft tissue because it can burn. Other products you can use include Dent’s Toothache Drops, Orajel and Red Cross Toothache Medicine. When you have the cotton in place, cover it up with some Cavitt or other temporary dental filling.

For pain, I highly recommend using 400mg of Ibuprophen taken with 800 mg of Tylenol at the same time, every 4-6 hours. If that doesn’t do the trick then a narcotic such as Codeine or Vicodin can be taken every 4-6 hours. Be sure to take these with food. If infection is present, an antibiotic should be taken for 5-7 days. Under no circumstances should you place aspirin on or next to the tooth. It can cause serious burns to the gum tissue.