Backpacking and Dental Hygiene

When I was growing up my father instilled in me a love and an appreciation for the outdoors.  I grew up in the midwest of the United States and even though our terrain is not majestic it can be peaceful and beautiful.  In my more recent years, I have found that a great way to get out in nature and experience that  beauty is through backpacking.  The joys of personally conquering distances and seeing areas that most humans will never visit or see is exhilarating.  Being so remote to see rare sights also comes with difficulty and sacrifices.  One sacrifice that many backpackers are willing to make and that I am not is my dental hygiene. 

Brushing your teeth is a regular occurrence in my life and I think that it is important to keep up with the routine no matter what I am doing or where I am.  Even if I am 30 miles away from civilization and a sink, I still bring a toothbrush and some paste along with me. 

I have been caught without my toothbrush and paste before and the experience was unpleasant.  Years ago I went on a several week fishing trip in the boundary waters of Canada.  The trip was meant to be 60 miles long and two weeks in time.  We were outfitted for food for the time and expected to catch fish for about half of the meals.  This was a crazy trip because on our first day we canoed 15 miles in and that very night a tornado came through our path. Since we were on the water at the time with our gear, all of our canoes were flipped by the 100 mph plus winds.  The Tornado made us lose about half of our gear and my hygiene products as well. 

The lack of brushing my teeth and the lack of nutrients I was ingesting from the lack of our regular food supplies left me in pain.  My mouth was hurting by the end of the trip and my teeth were in pain.  It took a week after the return for my mouth to feel better.  I had to restock on nutrients and get the plaque and tartar build up off my teeth. It was after this experience, that I decided I would always take a backup toothbrush and vitamins with me on every trip.  I now store them in two separate locations so I have a regular and backup just incase something like this ever happens again.