You would doubtless be very surprised at how many people actually try to draw their own teeth. It sounds revolting and very painful, but it is still true and there can be many reasons why people do it. We all know how distressing toothache is and how it always seems worse at night preventing the sufferer from getting a good night’s sleep.
If the tooth is just loose, there should not be too much of a problem, but if you do not know what you are doing, you could worsen the situation. Particularly if there is an abscess.
Dentistry has become very refined over the last 100 years, but before that barbers and dentists shared the same profession. Anaesthetics were hard to come by, so most adults just became drunk and extracted their own teeth or had someone else do it for them.
People tended to use pliers or other carpenters’ tools. Toothache was widespread and it resulted in a lot of suffering. Nowadays, modern anaesthetics and modern practices make pulling teeth or even repairing them almost painless.
However, there are still predicaments when you may want or even have to draw teeth at home. Baby or milk teeth often work loose and fall out without any problems. When I was a child in the UK in the Fifties, it was not uncommon for parents to pull children’s teeth, even though dentists were free for children.
I know of parents giving their children toffee to eat, hoping that the tooth would stick in the toffee and come out and I have had a tooth tied to an open door and the door thrown shut, pulling the tooth out rapidly.
Other predicaments that may make you want to remove your own teeth is if you live or are holidaying in the wild or in a country where you do not have faith in the dentists. In some countries, any dentistry work is very expensive, in other countries straight-forward extractions are free or at a set, small fee.
There are other situations when you should never try to draw your own teeth. One of these is if you have gum disease or an abscess. These circumstances can have very serious consequences for your gums and jaw bones, so you ought to seek proper medical or dental assistance immediately.
There are other dangers to pulling your own teeth too. If you snap off a tooth, you will be in more pain than before and you will still have to go to a dentist to have the bottom half winkled out of your gum. If you do not disinfect your pliers or and other instruments you run the serious risk of infection too.
The bottom line is that it best not to attempt to draw your own teeth if you can possibly avoid it for the reasons given above. Another problem for many though is cost, particularly in the United States where dental costs seem to be out of control. With the deepening depression and increasing unemployment, there is a danger that some people will go back to drawing their own teeth again, setting dental care standards back a hundred years.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on a variety of topics, but is currently involved with investigating teeth whitening costs. If you would like to know more or check out great offers, please go to our website at Opalescence Tooth Whitening Systems