Das_Boot
Well-Known Member
I met this guy in the boatyard yesterday who had serious facial scars and a big dent in his jawbone. I asked him what had happened and hearing I was from South Africa he told me this story.
He says that he had sailed with a South African skipper who had lived with the bushmen in the Kalahari apparently they had taught him how they got rid of toothache.
What they do is capture a Pufadder (type of snake) which has haematoxin venom (flesh eating).
They kill the snake and remove a little of the venom which they rub into the hole on the tooth where the decay has formed. This acts as a kind of root canal cleaning, as it kills all of the nerve being a haematoxin.
Obviously the dose is critical and the bushmen after thousands of years experience have got it just right.
The Skipper who practised this unconventional and unwise form of dentistry on him used a venom filled syringe. The rest is history as witnessed by the removal of most of his gums and some of his jaw plus cutting flaps of cheek away.
After hearing this story and trying not to laugh in the guys face I forgot to ask if it cured his toothache.
So my question is has anyone heard of this before and if so does it work?
He says that he had sailed with a South African skipper who had lived with the bushmen in the Kalahari apparently they had taught him how they got rid of toothache.
What they do is capture a Pufadder (type of snake) which has haematoxin venom (flesh eating).
They kill the snake and remove a little of the venom which they rub into the hole on the tooth where the decay has formed. This acts as a kind of root canal cleaning, as it kills all of the nerve being a haematoxin.
Obviously the dose is critical and the bushmen after thousands of years experience have got it just right.
The Skipper who practised this unconventional and unwise form of dentistry on him used a venom filled syringe. The rest is history as witnessed by the removal of most of his gums and some of his jaw plus cutting flaps of cheek away.
After hearing this story and trying not to laugh in the guys face I forgot to ask if it cured his toothache.
So my question is has anyone heard of this before and if so does it work?
