Survivalists and preppers often come up with some very strange, yet effective ways to use general everyday items. One such item is dental floss, which is lightweight and easy to carry in the outdoors. The best use of dental floss is for maintaining your oral health, of course. However, floss can be used for much more than that. Here are five awesome ways to use dental floss when you're out in the wild and on your own:

1. Getting a Fire Started

You will have to make sure that you have waxed floss rather than non-waxed floss, but if you wrap it around a dry piece of bark or a stick, you will create a quick and simple fire starter. You can light it with a match or a lighter and get your campfire started for warmth, light or cooking.

2. Making a Spear

Out in the wild, it's safe to say that you are going to need some sort of weapon to help protect yourself from intruders – human or not. You may also need to create an instrument that you can use to hunt. The easiest way to do this is to use dental floss to tie a pair of scissors or knife to the end of a sturdy stick.

3. Creating a DIY Shelter

Often times, when you're out in the wild, you may come across a time when you need to create your own shelter. Maybe the zombie apocalypse has started and you didn't have time to grab your tent before you left your zombie-infested neighborhood, or maybe your tent was stolen. Whatever the case may be, you can use dental floss to tie sticks, leaves and grass together to create a shelter. Floss can also be used to secure a tarp.

4. Saving Your Life – Medically Speaking

When you suffer a severe injury and you are bleeding out, you can use dental floss to create a tourniquet to hold off blood flow. Floss can also be used as stitches to close a wound. If you happen to be out and about with someone who is in labor, dental floss can also be used with the umbilical cord.

5. Securing Food to Cook

When you don't have a skillet to place over your campfire to cook meat, you can turn to unwaxed dental floss. The dental floss is used to tie up and secure the meat to a stick so that it can easily be roasted over an open campfire. It is important to use unwaxed floss because it won't burn, which will help ensure your food stays in place and doesn't fall off into the fire!

Dental floss can be used in a number of ways to help save your life when you're out in the wild. However, until that time comes, make sure that you're visiting your dentist regularly and using your floss to remove any pieces of food and plaque leftover from brushing.