If you don't take care of your teeth, they will try to kill you.

I had a tooth go from bad but hasn't been a problem in years to pain so bad I couldn't walk straight in under 48 hours this week, with swelling ranging from collar bone to temple. Thank the gods and science for antibiotics! And I should know better- my mother had a tooth abscess that turned in blood poisoning and nearly took her out when she was my age. (No, I haven't told her yet- she's gonna scream at me when I do.)

So, short of pulling it and trying to draw the puss out with tannins and saline, what would be the procedure for dealing with this in a long term emergency? Or short term- there is no way I could have built a shelter and maintained a fire if I had been in the woods and not able to get to town quickly. I had a period of about 18 hours where all I did was shiver, sweat and sleep.

Take care of your teeth as much as you do your eyes. You can't make good replacements for them in the field, and you REALLY need them.

warm salt water rinse, clove oil, ibuprofen and tylenol worked till an absess self drained... had it not drained, I was about to head to the ER as it manifested at night...I had a pair of tiny Craftsman channel lock pliers, and contemplated a DIY extraction, but thought I would probably pass out and choke on the blood as I was by myself..

my home FAK now has temporary dental filling, dental mirror, Anbesol in addition to the clove oil....

possibly ask your dentist for a script for penicillin VX250?

Thats exactly what he gave me, actually. And I'm glad penicillian is working- it's the old man with a mean dog and a shotgun of antibiotics. If I can manage this with penicilin rather than one of the newer high-speed low-drag type antibiotics, I'm very happy.

I was thinking more along the lines of if this happened up in the back country and I wasn't able to extract myself or be extracted, or during a disaster. We don't think of our mouths most of the time- maybe with them, but not of them. So lets say we get crud in our mouth during an earthquake or flood for example, and a bad tooth or a gum laceration abscesses quickly. Other than numbing the pain and trying to drain it...

Even with the proper equipment, how do you do dentistry yourself? Is there some sort of DIY guide? I'd think anything you can do is just intended to tide you over until you can get out of the wilderness/whatever and find a dentist.

Da Bing

http://hesperian.info/assets_org/dentist/wtndentist_2010_Web_Full_Book.pdf

or buy a paper copy:
http://www.amazon.com/Where-There-Dentist-Murray-Dickson/dp/0942364058

NB: I am not a dental or medical professional, so I don't have the background to evaluate the advice given in this book.

OK - nobody likes the dentist, but prevention hurts 100x less that letting it get to a problem.

It has been known since early time a tooth infection can easily kill you. Then antibiotics came along (~1940) and changed circumstances by making death 'by tooth' almost unheard of in the 1st world. A tooth ache/painful infection is considered to be an 'acute' dental disease/infection.
Now science is learning that 'chronic' (on-going/subtle/long term-no significant symptoms to the individual) dental gum & tooth infection is also detrimental to a persons long term health. Heart disease is now shown to be accelerated by chronic infection/inflammation. Mothers with gum disease are considerably more likely to miscarry and/or have premature birth. As more people are studied and research continues, the list gets longer.
Stressful situations are KNOWN to suppress the immune system and allow a chronic infection to become an acute painful problem. So when you are 'stressed' to SURVIVE in some future unknown situation, be prepared by having all systems 'healthy'-including your mouth/teeth/gums!

A stitch in time-can save 99!
gimpy

This week is spent getting everything up to date: flu shot, dental checkup, new contacts, dr. visit.