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Dental skills are probably the least known but will be widely needed of any of the medical skills.
Just how long can the average person go between dental visits?
Now mind ya I'm not making a recommendation that YOU do this or your family does this. If your the "we have to be at the doctor every 4.5 months and the dentist every 5.7 months", then that's fine.
As a rule we try to take care of most of our families medical needs at home. Couple reasons for this. First and foremost is money. A little cough, a slight fever, etc. can usually be handled at home without a couple hundred dollar trip to the doctor. Second reason I do have a little bit of medical training, not anything hardcore, but I've done a little minor surgery, IV's, etc. on live patients before (willing patients I might add too, LOL). Third reason is that although we aren't strictly holistic types, I've met my share of medical types that had no idea WTF they were doing. Example- the first and only time my son went to the doc after he was a baby. He was 2 got a fever. We treated him at home for a day or so but then he refused fluids. See if your going to do this, you have to know when to say "OK, now it's time to see a doc." So when we couldn't get him to keep fluids in and he began to get dehydrated we took him in. It took FOUR NURSES to give him an IV, I kid you not. I finally said "would you like me to stick him?" Boy if that didn't get me some looks!! They finally brought in some 20 year experience RN who did get the stick and she left immediately after they taped it. Idjit nurse #2 (and known of these were CNA's) keeps punching numbers on the IV machine and can't understand why fluid is not flowing. I glance over, see that the roller clamp is shut, reach up and roll it down. She looks at me with amazement, like I just figured out a Rubix cube or something.... LOL
Like I said, we are far from totally holistic, but I prefer where possible not to put anything more than vitamins in my body. So this also limits medical visits since often times it's the usual "hmmmm take this and this and you'll be fine." Now that doesn't mean I won't take an antibiotic if I'm fighting a serious infection though.
I honestly believe so much of our health problems stem from laziness, lack of exercise and improper diet.
Anywhoo, so back to the dentist.
For a number of reasons, mainly the money issue, we did not visit the dentist for the better part of a decade. My wife has been very diligent with my son in teaching him and making sure he brushed and flossed regularly. He occasionally has some M and M's but doesn't drink cokes, we don't keep candy in the house, etc. All of us eat pretty good- whole grains, veggies from the garden, home raised meats, etc.
Well in the 9 year period we had the following results- again with NO dental visits in that time period- just brushing, flossing and mouthwash.
The boy had zero cavities. I got a lot of crap because it was his first dental visit ever. Well not a lot of crap but a couple of "so he's 9 and NEVER has been to a dentist before?" questions. After we heard no cavities I was like "guess we did alright then huh?" That shut that up.
I had a couple of minor cavities. Oddly enough from a tooth chipping which I knew about and an old filling that fell out that I knew about also. In hindsight I should have taken care of those sooner, but we caught them in time.
The wife had a couple also.
Neither her or I had any pain relating to the cavities. I honestly think we could have went at least another couple years with what we had.
The dental skills are important to learn and it's relatively easy to fill a tooth. The hard part for us is going to be the drilling.
I think if most of us keep our teeth in good shape any of us could go 5-10 years barring any teeth knocked out or broken.
Just how long can the average person go between dental visits?
Now mind ya I'm not making a recommendation that YOU do this or your family does this. If your the "we have to be at the doctor every 4.5 months and the dentist every 5.7 months", then that's fine.
As a rule we try to take care of most of our families medical needs at home. Couple reasons for this. First and foremost is money. A little cough, a slight fever, etc. can usually be handled at home without a couple hundred dollar trip to the doctor. Second reason I do have a little bit of medical training, not anything hardcore, but I've done a little minor surgery, IV's, etc. on live patients before (willing patients I might add too, LOL). Third reason is that although we aren't strictly holistic types, I've met my share of medical types that had no idea WTF they were doing. Example- the first and only time my son went to the doc after he was a baby. He was 2 got a fever. We treated him at home for a day or so but then he refused fluids. See if your going to do this, you have to know when to say "OK, now it's time to see a doc." So when we couldn't get him to keep fluids in and he began to get dehydrated we took him in. It took FOUR NURSES to give him an IV, I kid you not. I finally said "would you like me to stick him?" Boy if that didn't get me some looks!! They finally brought in some 20 year experience RN who did get the stick and she left immediately after they taped it. Idjit nurse #2 (and known of these were CNA's) keeps punching numbers on the IV machine and can't understand why fluid is not flowing. I glance over, see that the roller clamp is shut, reach up and roll it down. She looks at me with amazement, like I just figured out a Rubix cube or something.... LOL
Like I said, we are far from totally holistic, but I prefer where possible not to put anything more than vitamins in my body. So this also limits medical visits since often times it's the usual "hmmmm take this and this and you'll be fine." Now that doesn't mean I won't take an antibiotic if I'm fighting a serious infection though.
I honestly believe so much of our health problems stem from laziness, lack of exercise and improper diet.
Anywhoo, so back to the dentist.
For a number of reasons, mainly the money issue, we did not visit the dentist for the better part of a decade. My wife has been very diligent with my son in teaching him and making sure he brushed and flossed regularly. He occasionally has some M and M's but doesn't drink cokes, we don't keep candy in the house, etc. All of us eat pretty good- whole grains, veggies from the garden, home raised meats, etc.
Well in the 9 year period we had the following results- again with NO dental visits in that time period- just brushing, flossing and mouthwash.
The boy had zero cavities. I got a lot of crap because it was his first dental visit ever. Well not a lot of crap but a couple of "so he's 9 and NEVER has been to a dentist before?" questions. After we heard no cavities I was like "guess we did alright then huh?" That shut that up.
I had a couple of minor cavities. Oddly enough from a tooth chipping which I knew about and an old filling that fell out that I knew about also. In hindsight I should have taken care of those sooner, but we caught them in time.
The wife had a couple also.
Neither her or I had any pain relating to the cavities. I honestly think we could have went at least another couple years with what we had.
The dental skills are important to learn and it's relatively easy to fill a tooth. The hard part for us is going to be the drilling.
I think if most of us keep our teeth in good shape any of us could go 5-10 years barring any teeth knocked out or broken.
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