Toothiness

Posted by Ken Campbell May 19, 2012 0 Comment 989 views
I was doing a San Juan trip years ago for Tahoma Outdoor Pursuits when I had a dental emergency. We were camped on Strawberry Island (remember Strawberry Island?), and somehow I lost a filling. Where my mouth had felt normal one minute, it now featured a gaping cavern in one of my teeth, and I couldn’t stop exploring and worrying the jagged edges of the new void with the tip of my tongue. I don’t remember it hurting, but on day one of a three or four day trip, with a full load of clients and no dentist in sight, I was in a tight spot.
I did have a dental repair kit in my first aid kit, however. It was something that I’d carried around for quite a while, never thinking I’d need it and yet, here I was. I squeezed some of the pinkish bondo out of the tiny tube that it came in and shaped it quickly into and around the new cavity. In a matter of a few minutes it had hardened in place and I went to bed that night without further incident. The repair lasted for the rest of the trip, no problem. In fact, I remember not making it to the dentist for a few weeks after the trip was over, and the temporary filling was still firmly in place the whole time. The dentist chuckled a bit as he did the real replacement but we were both pretty impressed with the way the pink stuff had held.
That was a long time ago and I haven’t replaced the kit. With this summer’s trip approaching, I thought it might be a good idea to have the dental emergencies covered so I went to the local big-box outdoor store yesterday evening to find a new kit. They didn’t have one, which I found a bit surprising. They had lots of clothes though, fashionable outdoor-themed apparel. They had Chinese bicycles and in-line skates, nylon day packs and rubber sandals. They even had some first aid kits, next to a full aisle of technicolor water bottles, but no tooth repair items.
I’ll keep looking.

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