Make Like Dr. Feelgood
First things first — get rid of the pain. Mild toothaches can be alleviated with some pain-relieving tablets or some clove oil applied to the area with cotton balls. If you live in the southeast you can chew the inner bark of a Hercules club tree to numb your face and gums. Hercules extract was used for such medicinal purposes by both Native Americans and early settlers, and it doubles as a natural anti-bacterial agent that fights Staphylococcus aureus, the bug that causes staph infections.
Also, if you’ve stockpiled some ether, you can be knocked out unconscious with this gas. You’ll want diethyl ether, a non-halogenated type of ether. However, it’s also EXTREMELY flammable, so you’ll need to keep it away from mixtures of enriched oxygen.
Stock Antibiotics in a First Aid Kit
Dentists will usually treat an abscess before pulling a tooth. It’s best for you to do the same in your case. If you’ve 
stockpiled supplies of antibiotics, amoxicillin or phenoxymethylpenicillin are usually the best for dental infections. For those allergic to penicillin, clarithromycin works really well. For severe infection or cases of the infection spreading, metronidazole is a solid choice. Finish the antibiotic regimen before working on the tooth.
Familiarize Yourself with Your Mouth
Even though there are tons of articles and videos online that detail how easy it is to remove your teeth, the simple fact is following that advice is pretty reckless and the Internet will probably be nonexistent should you face a SHTF situation. You should review the anatomy of your mouth, especially where that white-hot throbbing pain is concerned.
This X-Ray shows your mouth and the different teeth types. When you are trying to extract your teeth, one rule of thumb to keep in mind is that the level of difficulty of removal goes up the farther you go back in your mouth. The front teeth are usually the least difficult to remove, followed by the molars, and then the most difficult of them all, the wisdom teeth. Removal of wisdom teeth won’t be covered here.
For being such an integral part of the human body, the makeup of the tooth is somewhat simple. The dental structure that is seen above the line of the gum is referred to as the crown, and below that is the root. The area where the tooth resides is a bony socket called the alveolus. Similar to what holds your shoulder and ankles together, ligaments are just as important when it comes to anchoring the alveolar bone.
Baby teeth are different than the permanent variety because it takes more than some wiggling or a piece of string, attached to a door knob to extract it. In case of a major disaster, the following information can prove beneficial if you have to take on a dentist role for yourself or others.
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Photo by DLG Images