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.