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Letter Re: Be Prepared to Perform Tooth Extractions
Hi Jim,
A late night espresso kept me from sleeping, so I dove into some analysis
of my dental office [records] for 2006. I practice in northern Idaho,
so you know the population base I serve. My numbers surprised me.
On
average,
I pull
four teeth per day, perform three root canals per day, and fill 11
teeth per day, four days per week.
So in my office I treated about 1,350 people in varying degrees of
pain in 2006. Those cavities I filled if left untreated would eventually
cause mild to severe pain. Combine those numbers with all the other
offices in the area, and the odds are at best that any person has a
12% chance of being inconvenienced with dental problems. Perhaps painfully
inconvenienced.
People take their teeth for granted. It drives me crazy. Imagine your
post-civilization lifestyle: try doing hard physical labor sunup/sundown
with severe pulpitis. Try staying focused while standing guard when
you are so swollen you look like elephant man. Try to shoot straight
when the rifle recoil smashes into that rotten molar. Try getting your
sweetie to kiss you when your mouth smells like jungle rot.
Now I haven't read the book :"Where There Is No Dentist",
but it would probably be a good thing to have on one's bookshelf. Laying
on top
of that book should be a #304 elevator, a 150 forcep, and 151
forcep.
[Available from Zoll
Dental and other Internet dental instrument suppliers.] I've
pulled thousands of teeth with just these three instruments. Remember:
elevate first and foremost! Get that tooth rocking, don't
force it or it will just snap and then the novice oral surgeon is probably SOL (the
patient even more so). Check YouTube and
the web, there might be some close-up videos of extractions. Get the
instruments from eBay.
As I told an acquaintance: Research it now, or you'll wish you
had,
later. Otherwise, you might be walking bare-a**ed and buck naked up
my hill
with nothing but a basket of eggs to hide your junk. That way I know
you mean well and intend on bartering for my services. Alright, Alright,
I'll let folks wear boots and skivvies.
One other thing. I know your opinion on fluoride is negative. But as
I treat people from all over the world, I can tell you from experience
that fluoridated teeth are harder and much more resistant to tooth
decay that non-fluoridated. I would have you consider this: post-civilization
human life expectancy is going to drop. Violence and effects from malnutrition
will be the primary killers, I imagine. Lets say you are right and
everything you believe about fluoride is true--something else is going
to kill
you long before the effects from that element. I'd keep some on hand.
Just my most humble two cents (copper) worth. Regards, - J.
