Dental work and free publications

You all know my thoughts about any kind of medical treatment.  If it should be done it needs to be taken care of NOW.  You never know what tomorrow may hold.  Last year I had surgery on my arm dealing with a nerve problem that I could have lived with and waited for surgery sometime in the future.  No I wanted it right away.  Same with my teeth.  I am fortunate to have pretty good teeth.  Or at least they were until I hit 50.  Before that I didn't have any cavities.  Now I've had a couple.  I had one of my front teeth break off when I spit a piece of candy out.  This last dental exam was not good.  I was told that one of my molars had several cracks in it.  I even saw the picture to see for myself.  How could this happen?  Anything from grinding teeth while sleeping to munching on ice cubes to eating a piece of candy.  Because of my philosophy, waiting is not an option.  The tooth may stay the way it is for a long time or it may crack more and actually hurt!  Taking no chances I went in to the dentist today.  They worked on it, put on a temporary cover (not really a crown but a new technology), and told me they'll call me in a couple of weeks when the lab gets done creating the new non-crown.  I left the dentist office with a very numb mouth. 

The grand kids were supposed to have their religious school today, or so I thought.  I hurried back from the dentist to pick them up and bring them into town.  Oops no school so I just let them play with the other kids that were there.  On the way home we stopped for pizza and a trip to the new yogurt place.  After eating the frozen yogurt my mouth was feeling so much better.  Not my wallet as the evening cost $20!  In a couple of weeks when I have to go back to the dentist I'll probably do the same routine...pizza and frozen yogurt.  My mouth will thank me!

I've posted a couple times about dental care.  That's because it's such an important topic and one that we really can't do much on our own when it comes to repair.  We can do temporary fixes and hope things work out or we can pull teeth.  The main thing is to work hard at having strong healthy teeth. 

I suppose to fix this cracked tooth, if it was a time when TSHTF, I could use my Temparin Max Lost Filling and Loose Cap Repair by DenTek.  I have several of these packages in my dental storage.  Each package costs under $3.00 and makes up to 8 repairs.  I could use this to make my own crown for my tooth if I didn’t have a dentist to go to.  My few packages wouldn't last very long since this stuff is supposedly temporary.  I don't know how long it actually lasts because you are supposed to use it until you can get to the dentist, not instead of the dentist.  Anything would be better than having the tooth break apart and expose the nerve.  Then I’d have to get mighty drunk and have it pulled. 

I’m continuously getting on the grand kids about their teeth.  According to the dentist they should be brushing for two minutes at a time twice a day.  I even bought the little tooth scraping picks and their own flavored floss from the dollar store.  I figured the more “things” they had to play with, I mean use to clean their mouths, the more chance they will actually brush their teeth.  I’m not yet getting through. 

If you want to read the publication Where There Is No Dentist, you can buy a copy or download it free from Hesperian.   http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download.php  This same website has the downloads to Where There is No Doctor – including updated and new chapters in their newest book that hasn’t yet been published, Where Women Have No Doctor, A Community Guide to Environmental Health. A book for Midwives, Disabled Village Children, and a few others.  It’s definitely worth checking out the site.  They provide all these books free of charge.  If you like their books feel free to donate a few dollars.