Prudent Prepping: What's In Your Mouth...

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Now we concentrate on what to do in, and how to plan for, the long term via Prudent Prepping.

I have some dental problems: fillings needing replacement, a crown that now may be cracked; and teeth out of alignment; all things that I was trying to fix from before my recent return to singleness. The first two issues are going to be put off a bit longer until my finances are in better shape, but the last is being fixed (starting from zero) with Invisalign braces/inserts I bought to try and save the teeth I have, which is related to this weeks topic.

... Should Stay In Your Mouth
Teeth are very important to our overall health, as seen in this article. Proper digestion is affected by the many different things we call saliva, all of which cannot properly start to work until you and your teeth spend some time chewing. If you want to eat, you have to take care of your teeth, and I want to keep mine for as long as possible -- several relatives have not taken care of their teeth, or had access to regular dental care, which resulted in removal of their natural teeth and getting bridgework, partial and/or complete dentures.

Brushing and flossing is part of good dental health, and the Invisalign system requires extra steps to maintain good dental hygiene, since the 'braces' can hold food or other items next to your teeth for long periods of time. This means I have to brush after eating and especially after drinking anything other than water. I have carried a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss in my B.O.B and G.H.B. for a while now, but with my transition to a smaller E.D.C bag, I need to resist the urge to pack too much into this smaller bag, since it was purchased to prevent this from happening.

The TOOB

https://www.rei.com/product/737990/aurelle-toob-brush

This is exactly what I wanted when I worked for a company in S. California while living in the S.F. Bay area and was required to fly every other month for meetings. I always had to substitute a small tube of generic toothpaste for my preferred brand, since the tubes were too big to get past the Travel Naz -- I mean the child grop -- I mean TSA screeners -- in my carry-on luggage. But this nifty little device has a refillable toothpaste tube that fits into the handle of the brush!

Here is a demonstration showing how it works. It really is as simple as it looks:

• Unscrew the bottom of the TOOB toothpaste tube
• Attach to your full size, regular toothpaste, 
• Remove the top of the TOOB and squeeze until the mini tube is full. 

As often as I brush, the toothpaste runs out fairly quickly, but compared to buying and using $0.99 travel tubes, it is a bargain to be able to use my own brand. After 3 weeks and 3 refills, I don't see any problems. Everything is covered in hard plastic that I wash under hot water whenever the paste runs out.

The Takeaway

• Staying healthy is more than exercise and the proper foods; also it's eating and chewing correctly.
• I need a compact way to carry toothpaste and a tooth brush. This is everything in one package.

Recap

• One TOOB tooth brush/tooth paste combo: $5.95 from REI. $8.48 and free shipping from Amazon.

Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running! 

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.