3 SHTF Problems You May Not Have Thought Of

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Recently, while I was sitting at the orthodontist waiting for my kid’s braces to finally get removed, I began to think about “what if SHTF” and I we didn’t have an orthodontist (or dentist) readily available who know what to do with such things?

After all, I don’t have a clue how all that orthodontics gear works and since my youngest still has many years of orthodontics to go, I should probably get a clue. I know the braces are cemented in there somehow but besides that I’m sure I would do more harm than good if I tried to do any of it off on my own, let alone try to keep their teeth properly aligned either… that won’t happen at all, lol.

SHTF Problem #1: Your Teeth

You’d be surprised but in a truly long-term SHTF situation teeth may be a much bigger problem for many people than they realize.

Besides just having cavities, who knows what types of additional–and sometimes very serious–problems you might encounter, here’s a few I can think of:

  • Abscess teeth. I’d wrote an article a long time ago about how it killed my wife’s uncle. It’s a much bigger problem than most realize and can lead to a variety of serious health problems.
  • Crowns that come out. This would leave the root uncomfortably exposed and probably indicates a much bigger problem. While the usual SHTF remedy for “bad teeth” is to just pull it, that might not be as easy with a crown removed and probably rather painful I’d imagine.
  • Orthodontics, various appliances. Really, anytime you’re in the middle of a process that takes years to complete, I’m guessing you’d also need the knowledge to know if it’s working properly and I’m also guessing that you could quickly do more harm than good. My gut-reaction is to remove the braces (or whatever) but, again, I don’t know how.

I’m sure there are more significant problems to be aware of here and while I have various extraction tools I do wonder how useful they may be with crowns, for instance. And considering that an abscess tooth is such a problem it would be a good idea to have appropriate antibiotics.

SHTF Problem #2: Birth And Babies

This is another big concern that many of us could have but not even consider until that “surprise” hits us. Obviously, this can be minimized by having and using appropriate protection, though, there will still be plenty of instances where people will have babies post-SHTF, wanted or otherwise.

Now, women have been having babies for as long as humanity has been around and doing so relatively successfully, the process isn’t without it’s complications to say the least.

And, of course, while most people choose a hospital with all of the medical benefits… they just won’t be available or accessible in a long-term situation. About the only solution would be to befriend an OBGYN or midwife and hope for the best. Lucky for me I’m married to a midwife. 🙂

Besides concern for the baby, such as being able to resuscitate them, complications with the mother are just as serious, especially hemorrhage. Both of these problems may result in death if you don’t have a knowledgeable resource to take charge and even then the worst may happen simply because they didn’t have appropriate drugs or equipment.

Again, having babies is no joke (and fraught with many serious complications besides what I mentioned above) in good times with all of the support structure we have in place. Afterwards we’re back to hoping and praying of the best.

I won’t get into potential complications with newborns as I don’t know about these types of problems to offer any sound advice.

SHTF Problem #3: Pets

Most of us have little idea what to do when we run out of pet food and, more important, may find ourselves torn between feeding our pets from our dwindling food storage foods or not. Granted, many of us may not be torn at all and simply just feed our pets as if they’re our children. 😉

I do wonder just how well most pets (and I’m thinking of dogs and cats mostly) will do with a significant change of diet from their typical dog or cat food to all human food? I’d suspect they will manage somehow.

What about potential medical issues? Again, if there’s no vet about the best we can do is to care for them as if they’re human and then hope for the best.

For us, we have a dog and then also guinea pigs who, sadly, would be the bigger problem because they eat mostly vegetables, hay, and pellets. As much as I really like them they probably won’t last long post-SHTF.

Anyway, what problems can you think of? What SHTF concerns would you have that you may not have thought about?

 


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My latest book, The Survival Blueprint: How to Prepare Your Family for Disaster, can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJ49Y5X4

Comments

4 responses to “3 SHTF Problems You May Not Have Thought Of”

  1. Scott Williams

    I’ve actually thought about problems #1 and #3. Dr. Snip Snip took care of problem #2 so it’s not a problem unless the SHTF years from now where it may affect my daughters.
    For problem #1, invest in Fish Mox Forte for a good antibiotic against an abscessed tooth. Is the exact same thing as a prescribed amoxicillin and the best thing is you can buy it on Amazon. Super glue for a crown? If the SHTF is serious enough, I’d try it! One of my daughters is getting her braces off in a month. Crossing my fingers the SHTF doesn’t hit before then. Luckily we live in a town of about 20,000 and I know the community where the dentist and orthodontist live. Perhaps if problem #1 is bad enough, I’ll take something to them to barter for services. I plan on purchasing The Survival Medicine Handbook. Dental issues and a ton of other things after an SHTF are covered including different meds to take.
    Problem #3 is a tough one especially if you’ve read the book One Second After.
    There are so many things that will go wrong after the SHTF and we just can’t prepare for them all. Find the things that mean the most to you and your family and prepare those things.

  2. Angela

    I think that this all comes down to location, especially when it comes to pets. I have dogs, cats, chickens, horses. The chickens, dogs and cat would be fine, as we have plenty of birds and smaller animals that can be fed to them if no “traditional feed”, the horses would be fine as well as I am rural and there are many pastures for feed sources and I am close to a major river so a trek with them down to the riverbank to drink wouldnt be hard.

    With the rest? not sure about dental, but babies? hopefully there is someone knowledgeable with herbs and such, or meds if you hoarded them in your survival group.

  3. Rosalie

    With pets, it’s not just food and daily care. But the ability to humanely PTS (Put To Sleep) your pets if they get sick, so they do not suffer. It’s much easier to contemplate with small pets, esp if you are a gun owner. But without a gun? Or with a large animal like a horse, where you don’t have the firepower?
    As a horse owner in the UK, with only a pellet gun in the home (for killing rabbits) I have no idea how I’d deal with not only putting a horse to sleep, but also how to dispose of the body. Now we call a vet, for lethal injection, and the Crematory come to collect. But if SHTF, before I find an appropriate plan, I’d be in real trouble.

  4. CuzMike

    Those are real problems that should be thought out before hand. But I can think of one that will make those pale in comparison. If we have a serious EMP what are we going to do with all of the nuclear power plants and depleted uranium?

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