Super glue for emergency dental pain

[alaskalograft]

Super glue should be in every first aid kit. The gel and liquid. Works great for sealing up an exposed nerve in a broken or worn tooth or a filling that has fallen out. Also great to re glue a crown that has fallen off. I'm using it as I write this to seal a bad tooth that urts like crazy when exposed. I'll be in the Philippines in a couple weeks and have it fixed there instead of paying expensive dental bill here in Alaska. Just found this trick on the net a couple weeks ago. I've spent plenty of time far from the dentist and will try to never go without my super glue. It would royally suck to be on a long passage or out in the bush with severe dental pain. Super glue stops it instantly. Emergency rooms use it to seal teeth until the patient can get to a dentist. Also used for sealing a wound. Wish I had some when I had to sew my hacked open foot up with dental floss. Was in the Alaskan bush at that time. Floss did work but glue might have been easier. I think you'd have to pinch the wound shut and then super glue a cloth patch over the wound.

[1000 islands]

Super glue has way more uses than ever considered when patented.

[Chenega]

I've heard it was used in Vietnam for closing wounds in the field...
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...nds-in-vietnam

[goat]

I've used it for years to stitch myself and others. Make sure the wound is as clean as you can get it and apply it in dots, you don't want to seal the wound, just hold it closed.

[estarzinger]

Mmmmmm . . . . I had a crown come off and My dentist said to absolutely NOT use superglue on a tooth with exposed root/nerve, because they contain cyanide and will kill the tooth. He said (generally) marine epoxy, like marine tex was MUCH better. He was fully aware of the superglue uses for closing skin cuts, his issue was specific to root/nerve exposure.

That's what I was told . . . I just followed his direction . . . Don't have enough personal medical knowledge to comment.

[skipmac]

Was also told by my dentist to not use super glue. Potentially toxic plus it can bond so tightly that you can break the remaining tooth trying to remove the glued on pieces when you go for proper attachment.

Best thing I have ever found and it is dentist approved is to use oil of cloves. Available at any pharmacy at least in the US. It works like magic for pain from an exposed root, open filling, etc. A drop on a piece of cotton pushed gently into the open cavity and the most intense pain goes away in seconds. I had a wisdom tooth removed a got a dry socket, the worst pain I ever experienced. Oil of cloves killed all the pain almost instantly. Don't leave home without it.

[openseas]

Hi,
Aside from sailing, I am a dentist, and what I can suggest is the following.
In any drugstore in the US, you can buy something called temporary filling (over the counter) which costs $3.00 or $4.00. You can also buy a small jar of vaseline. And if you mix them together, you get the closest thing to a dental cement, which you can use to recement a crown while you are off shore. It will also have soothing effect if the tooth that had the crown was a live one, till you can get the necessary work on land.
Also having dental work done in third world countries carries infection control risk.

Using super glue for any dental purpose is incredibly bad idea, except if you lost a tooth from a denture, where you can glue it back to the denture.

Don't put any super glue on any tooth, live or dead period. if you lost a filling, don't glue it bad, just use the temp filling to close the cavity till you have it repaired.
Also having Oralgel over the counter on a boat is a very good idea in case you experienced sharp pain all the sudden.

Also if you do any off shore sailing, visiting a dentist before you leave should be added to your check list.
That visit can tell you if you have any dental problem that is waiting to happen.
Having severe dental pain for a few days while you are off shore is not fun.

Hope that would help

[Stumble]

Get dermabond not superglue for wounds. Yes the superglue will work, but it also can cause major skin irritation, and can cause cell damage. The dermabond while more expensive doesn't carry these issues.

[estarzinger]

I can provide a little practical advice from my own experience with dental repair in remote places.

#1. The biggest thing I learned was you need to get the area dry, and keep it dry (for about 30 minutes), or your saliva will wash out the fix. Q-tips for getting the area dry, and big wads of cotton (cloth or balls) or paper towels to keep it dry, Do this way longer than you think. If you don't do this either the repair will not stick or it will wash out.

#2. I had one of those 'emergency dental kits' and found the cement to be hopeless. Easily washed out and weak once set up. I used up the whole kit and still did not have an acceptable fix. Probably a skilled dentist could make it work but I could not. Perhaps some practice before hand or more instructions might help.

I then called my dentist on the iridium phone and he asked what else we had on board and the marinetex (relatively fast cure thickened epoxy) was his pick. And it worked perfectly. I made a crown replacement with it, which lasted 9 months (until the dentist drilled it out) and when it was drilled out he said it was a perfect job and not really any worse than what he was going to redo. After the epoxy was 'semi cured', I could bite down on it and squash/shape it, so that it was a perfect 'bite pattern/height'.

Note: I was just following professional advice on this and don't have any knowledge on this myself . . . I strongly suspect you don't want to eat a bunch of the marinetex . . . but the 'pro' thought it was the best choice from what I had available.

[Teknav]

Ambesol works too, for a quick dental pain relief; a small tube cost around $7 USD. (I second...not a good idea to use Super Glue as a dental sealant.)

Mauritz

[minaret]

Quit messing around with cheap cyanoacrylate for wound control. Celox in its various forms is the only way to go to control bleeding and close wounds. Must have on every boat.

USA Home « Celox


Powered by Evidence « Celox


Celox-A « Celox

[shorebird]

Although not recommended for DIY, these same glues are used by Ophthalmologists to repair corneal lacerations.

[VFerreira]

Originally Posted by openseas

Also having dental work done in third world countries carries infection control risk.

How come?

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by shorebird

Although not recommended for DIY, these same glues are used by Ophthalmologists to repair corneal lacerations.

Honest question . . . You are saying they are using an off shelf hardware store Cyanoacrylate, or a near identical formulation? Or might they be using one of the many quite custom surgical/medical formulations?

[mikereed100]

I can't speak to the use of cyanoacrylate (CA) in dentistry, but if the dentist says don't use it then best do what they say. I doubt that it will kill a nerve root because of it's cyanide molecule, but CA produces other very toxic breakdown products such as formaldyhyde that will.

For wound closure, Dermabond is very useful for small, shallow cuts in areas where there is no tension on the skin. There is a popular myth, even among doctors, that the only difference between Crazy Glue and Dermabond is that Dermabond is sterile. I am sure Crrazy Glue is every bit as sterile as Dermabond, but there are other important differences. Short chain CA (Crazy Glue) can provoke a tissue reaction and is toxic to cells, meaning it can cause inflammation and slow healing, particularly if you get it in the wound. Long chain CA (Dermabond) is slower to degrade and produces fewer toxic by-products, such as the above mentioned formaldehyde, and is preferred for wound closure for this reason. It comes in an applicator and is tinted so it is easier to apply. It is also gawd-awful expensive, over $30 an applicator online.

If all you have is Crazy Glue then go ahead and use it, just keep it out of the wound and don't use it on that 3 inch gash on your knee.