If there is something which Dr. Kahn is always on the look out for, that would have to be cavities. And if you believe the myth that you’ll be able to feel a cavity when it first starts developing, then you’re very mistaken. By the time you will feel a cavity it will be in an advanced stage. Below is a quick overview as to how cavities develop and how to treat each scenario.
Finding out how cavities develop.
Your teeth are hard and dense, and it is really very difficult for cavities to start forming. But why do they still do? The number one reason is because of poor dental hygiene. The start of cavities will always involve plaque and bacteria. Plaque contains millions of bacterial colonies, all of which are dying to get their hands on sugars and other dental debris for them to metabolize into acids. But plaque is not just made of bacteria, it’s also teeming with dental debris. For this reason, the more that plaque accumulates on the surface of your teeth, the higher the possibility that you could develop cavities. For as long as the cavity is isolated only to the outer layer of the tooth, then you shouldn’t feel any pain and the cavity should remain undetected unless you have your teeth
What happens when the cavity develops further into the tooth.
The dental enamel layer does not contain any crucial soft tissues and is simply protective. However, when the cavity breaches the inner layers, then the soft tissues could become irritated and this can lead to extreme pain. The pain could be so severe once the cavity breaches the soft tissue layer and can cause chronic toothache. In order to alleviate the pain, your dentist could suggest one treatment — the root canal procedure.
The remedies for tooth decay.
The root canal procedure may have already garnered a reputation for being extremely painful, but this procedure is actually an effective way for you to preserve your cavity-ridden tooth. The rationale of the procedure involves the scraping off of the soft tissues found in the insides of the tooth in order to get rid of the nerve endings which are capable of converting sensations due to irritation to pain.
However, when the tooth has become severely decayed, then you may have no other choice but to have the tooth extracted since even the root canal treatment would be useless when only a small part of the tooth is left.
Image Courtesy Pinterest