Zombie Cliche Lookout: More Good News
One of the worst things about bad news is when you have to share it with the people directly affected by it. Sure, everyone is bummed out when a friend or loved one suffers a setback, but imagine being the person who tells them about it. Naturally, existing in the zombie apocalypse only makes this problem worse. Sure, it’s hard to tell a buddy that their girlfriend is cheating on them, or a coworker that someone else got that big promotion they were gunning for, but neither holds a candle to telling someone that their entire family has been killed and devoured by a horde of zombies. That makes for a rough day.
About this Episode:
So, again, I didn’t do any research about what medicines Tara’s dad might potentially be on that would require refrigeration, but I know there are some. Good enough for me. This is not, after all, a comic about running a pharmacy. It’s a comic about zombies.
Discussion Question: Dentistry
I noticed that dentistry came up a couple of times in the previous episode’s discussion question (sorry for not responding to a lot of the comments; work’s been crazy). I thought this was really interesting, because it’s something a lot of people take for granted the vast majority of the time. For most of us, we only think about the dentist when it’s time for our twice-annual cleaning, or when there’s a problem.
And when we’re in a situation where civilization’s infrastructure is no longer available to us, a dental problem quickly becomes a major emergency. So what would you do in a long term survival situation when you had an extremely painful toothache? Let’s also say that you’ve already tried to wait out the problem, but it only seems to be getting worse.
Meh, who needs a dentist, everyone knows you just need a pair of ice skates.
Really, just the one ice skate was enough.
Baking soda, mint leaves/ flavor oil, sea salt. Make like a frangy (Star Trek deep space 9 greedy characters) n chew on a healthy non-poisonous green and thin twig.
Now you have homemade renewable toothpaste and brush. You could probably find a better recipe at a dyi site though.
Excellent suggestion for daily maintenance, but what happens when there’s a cavity or some other issue?
Honestly I got nothing.
Seems to me that today’s question coming out of nowhere! I really wasn’t prepared for this LOL. Let’s hope that all the dental gums won’t disappear to quickly…
Now we may try to storm into a dental surgery… And try to replay scenes from previous horror movies about crazy dentists…
Hah, I try to keep you guys on your toes.
I really liked the novel (not the movie) “The Postman” (up until the wacky ending twist which felt out of place). There’s a lot in there you could implement here (although probably not this soon after the start of the apocalypse — but you could show some of the thinking in the characters’ philosophies). The story opens twenty or thirty years after a nuclear apocalypse. The children and young adults are too young to remember the world before.
The main character is a kind of opportunist, just trying to survive. He makes a point of wearing a mechanical watch — not that time has any meaning anymore, but he feels it’s a touch of civilization. He carries around a toothbrush and tooth powder, and he explains how everyone has really bad teeth and he wanted to escape that fate.
He also manages to find some people who’ve managed to keep things going (like electricity and rechargeable batteries).
In the end, a lie he improvises in order to find a safe place to sleep for a bit turns into a greater purpose.
And more…so much more…
https://smile.amazon.com/Postman-David-Brin/dp/0553278746/ref=sr_1_1
Had to double check, but there are no typos for today’s episode! 😀
I think in a zombie apocalypse what would happen to my teeth would depend on who’s supplying the group I’m in. if they’re any good at scavenging supplies, I probably would have toothpaste for a while, but major problems like toothaches requiring either extraction or filling would be a problem, for sure. Possibly there might be an interim solution in raiding dentist’s offices and denture molding shops, but mostly, good healthy teeth will be in short supply in a zombie apocalypse.
If I did manage to hold out, it would probably be for quite a while, I’m pretty tough, though the added pressure of an apocalyptic scenario would probably hasten my demise.
It’s more likely that the teeth would fall out or get removed. This would be a small advantage if I did get turned into a zombie: Gumming someone to death with a mouth empty of teeth with which to inflict damage would increase their chances of survival! 😀 Dentures would be highly likely to fall out if not secured in place, and I doubt any zombie would be capable of that! 😀
Forget toothaches go for Wisdom Teeth. After a certain age you can not avoid the pain they will cause or the loss of nice straight teeth as they crowd in. Side note my oldest daughter has an extra small jaw and had to have the teeth next to the Wisdom Teeth removed.
You have two choices suffer the pain for the long term or suffer some short term pain and do the “Wild Things” thing alcohol and pliers and maybe some specialized tools if you can find them.
What to do if you have a cavity in the middle of the zombie invasion:
…
Die.
…
Because getting a painfull cavity might as well feel like dying :p
I suppose you would just have to pull the tooth out, like the ye old wild western days. On the bright side there is a hope, how ever slim of finding some form of pain medication somewhere to…aiding you with the task.
And after a few months of dealing witb a horribly painfull tooth ache you will have no trouble being motivated to take on any size of zombie horde for any ammount of pain medication…