Making a toothbrush

[AirborneEagles]

Again, if anyone has put something of the same on here feel free to do with this thread as you will.

Hygiene is important while in the bush as well. In most places there is some tree that is not poisonous so this is fine and dandy for finding small branches to make a toothbrush with.

The Toothbrush is simple to make. Takes a few minutes to find a branch (small) and slice the end of the branch several times with your knife. Making it as fine as you want or as coarse as you want, you can make the bristles for what will look like your toothbrush at home. If you don't have a knife, then chewing on the end of the branch until it is splintery or spliney so it has some sort of bristles so you can use it to brush your teeth with. I prefer pine, but your choice is up to you. Even a solid edible plant with good stock can be used if the stock is hard enough to make bristles with.

Toothpaste is another one of your great choices. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and any other edible berry is filled with vitamins that help your teeth, get rid of plaque while you brush and also tastes great. If you can't find anything edible that you can use to brush your teeth with like berries, fruit or soft vegetable, then dry brushing with water is also good enough to keep your teeth clean and keep the plaque from building up.

On a number of occasions I forgot my toothbrush, it was not on my list and it just simply was forgot about since I don't take a shaving kit with me or even deodorant while in the bush. All those nice smelling things can be smelled miles away by other animals. Going out smelling like a desert dish isn't my kind of excitement when in grizzly country, around mountain lions or near an area with a lot of wolves. So I prefer I smell human so they have that instinct of man within them when they do smell me. Getting that day old food out my mouth is also one thing I want to do since when I come back to town, I don't want to look like a zombie out of "28 Days Later" and making the nice girls cringe when they see my teeth. =)

Anyway, hope it gives an idea for those just in case outdoor adventures when you just forgot your toothbrush or the bear runs off with your pack.

[canid]

with many green shrubby woods, you can do a similar thing by light pounding of the end [between two stones for example] until it is well broken up into bristles.

[pete lynch]

preachtheWORD did post a video link on a wilderness toothbrush he made but this is good too. We all need to brush em if we have em, eh?

[contramundum]

This was very helpful! I have always been wondering how the ancients of old have brushed their teeth without what we know as a modern day toothbrush.

[crashdive123]

Hey there contramundum - I don't want to get long in the TOOTH, so why not BRUSH on over to the Intro section and tell us about yourself. I'll PASTE the link for you http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...-Introductions

[JPGreco]

I've heard using ash from a fire can be used to clean teeth (well, relatively speaking to get rid of bad stuff). I heard it from some guy at Gettysburgh that civil war soldiers used it. Not sure of the validity though.

[Winnie]

I've heard that too JP. To freshen your breath and help kill the bacteria, chewing any of the wild herbs helps. ie; wild thyme, mint, rosemary.If you grow it Parsley is good too.

[Rick]

I would imagine fire ash would work. Fire ash and water will make lye so it probably does clean.

[your_comforting_company]

Oh, it cleans alright.. if you have any little sores in your mouth, like a scratch from eating tater chips, you will know pretty quickly. If an animal hide can sit for a week in a bucket of ash without rotting, I would have to say that bacteria and other enzymes don't stand much chance against a mouthful of lye either.