Cavities in the teeth can hurt really bad. Most people who are affected find it difficult to eat and even talk when suffering from it. But on the bright side, there are now pain reliefs that can give some sort of immediate comfort. If you are interested in finding out, you should read through this guide clearly.
What are Cavities?
Cavities are permanently damaged areas in the hard surface of your teeth that develop into tiny openings or holes. Cavities, also called tooth decay or caries, are caused by a combination of factors, including bacteria in your mouth, frequent snacking, sipping sugary drinks, and not cleaning your teeth well.
Cavities and tooth decay are among the world’s most common health problems. They’re especially common in children, teenagers, and older adults. But anyone who has teeth can get cavities, including infants.
If cavities aren’t treated, they get larger and affect deeper layers of your teeth. They can lead to severe toothache, infection, and tooth loss. Regular dental visits and good brushing and flossing habits are your best protection against cavities and tooth decay.
Who Gets Cavities?
In America, almost everyone will get a cavity at some point in their lives. However, the people most at risk for cavities are people who are very young or people over 50. 4 Babies and young children who drink from bottles are at increased risk because their teeth are exposed to carbohydrates and sugar from bottles overnight.
On the other hand, older people are at risk because they more often have receding gums. As the gum recedes, it can expose the root of the tooth, which is not covered in enamel, but a softer substance. This can make it easier for cavities to form.
In addition to those two demographics, there are other risk factors that can increase your likelihood of cavities. People with these conditioare at increased risk for tooth decay:
- Dry mouth. Saliva helps to wash away the plague, so people who don’t have enough saliva because of medical conditioor medication are more likely to have cavities.
- The acid that enters the mouths of people with reflux can deteriorate tooth enamel.
- Eating disorders. Eating disorders can change saliva production, and frequent vomiting can bring stomach acid into the mouth and deteriorate the enamel.
What are the types of cavities?
Tooth decay can affect all layers of a tooth. It can take three years for a cavity to form in the strong outer layer of tooth enamel. Decay progresses more quickly through the dentin (middle layer) to a pulp (innermost layer). The pulp contaia tooth’s nerve endings and blood supply. Types of tooth decay include:
- Smooth surface: This slow-growing cavity dissolves tooth enamel. You can prevent it — and sometimes reverse it — with proper brushing, flossing, and dental cleanings. People in their 20s often develop this form of tooth decay between their teeth.
- Pit and fissure decay: Cavities form on the top part of the tooth’s chewing surface. Decay also can affect the front side of the back teeth. Pit and fissure decay tends to start during the teenage years and progresses quickly.
- Root decay: Older adults who have receding gums are more prone to root decay. Gum recession exposes the tooth’s root to plaque and acid. Root decay is difficult to prevent and treat.
Causes
Cavities are caused by tooth decay — a process that occurs over time. Here’s how tooth decay develops:
- Plaque forms. Dental plaque is a clear sticky film that coats your teeth. It’s due to eating a lot of sugar and starches and not cleaning your teeth well. When sugars and starches aren’t cleaned off your teeth, bacteria quickly begin feeding on them and form plaque. Plaque that stays on your teeth can harden under or above your gum line into tartar (calculus). Tartar makes plaque more difficult to remove and creates a shield for bacteria.
- Plaque attacks. The acids in plaque remove minerals in your tooth’s hard, outer enamel. This erosion causes tiny openings or holes in the enamel — the first stage of cavities. Once areas of enamel are worn away, the bacteria and acid can reach the next layer of your teeth, called dentin. This layer is softer than enamel and less resistant to acid. Dentin has tiny tubes that directly communicate with the nerve of the tooth causing sensitivity.
- Destruction continues. As tooth decay develops, the bacteria and acid continue their march through your teeth, moving next to the inner tooth material (pulp) that containerves and blood vessels. The pulp becomes swollen and irritated from the bacteria. Because there is no place for the swelling to expand inside of a tooth, the nerve becomes pressed, causing pain. Discomfort can even extend outside of the tooth root to the bone.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
Cavities are hard to detect at first because you won’t notice any symptoms when they’re just forming. That’s why regular dental checkups every six months are important. At these checkups, dentists can check for early cavities by looking at your teeth, touching them, and using x-rays.
As your cavity grows deeper into your tooth, it could reach the sensitive blood vessels and nerves in your tooth. 3 That’s when you’re likely to start experiencing symptoms. The symptoms of cavities include:
- A toothache
- Pain when you bite
- Tooth sensitivity to temperature, including sharp pain when eating hot or cold foods or drinks
- Discoloration of the tooth, or a noticeable hole
Treatment optiofor tooth cavities
Tell your doctor about uncomfortable symptoms like tooth sensitivity or pain. Your dentist can identify tooth decay after an oral exam. However, some cavities aren’t visible from an oral exam. So your dentist may use a dental X-ray to look for decay.
Treatment optiodepend on severity. There are several ways to treat a cavity.
- Tooth fillings
A dentist uses a drill and removes decayed material from a tooth. Your dentist then fills your tooth with a substance, such as silver, gold, or composite resin.
- Crowns
For more severe decay, your dentist may place a custom-fit cap over your tooth to replace its natural crown. Your dentist will remove decayed tooth material before starting this procedure.
- Root canal
When tooth decay causes the death of your nerves, your dentist will perform a root canal to save your tooth. They remove the nerve tissue, blood vessel tissues, and any decayed areas of your tooth. Your dentist then checks for infectioand applies medication to the roots as needed. Finally, they fill the tooth, and they might even place a crown on it.
Early stage treatment
If your dentist detects a tooth cavity in its early stage, a fluoride treatment may restore your tooth enamel and prevent further decay.
Dealing with pain
Cavities and tooth decay can be the cause of a lot of pain and discomfort. You may want to find ways to soothe irritation while you wait for your dentist appointment. According to the Mayo Clinic, there are a few things you can do to deal with discomfort temporarily:
- Keep up your oral hygiene routine. Continue to brush and clean all parts of your mouth, including any sensitive areas.
- Try over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers. Check with your doctor if you can use OTC anesthetics.
- Watch what you eat. Stay away from extremely hot or cold foods when eating or drinking.
Cavity Prevention Tips
Though cavities can be repaired, try to avoid them by taking care of your teeth. Here’s how:
- Brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste after every meal or at least twice a day. Bedtime is an important time to brush.
- Brush up and down in a circular motion.
- Gently brush your gums as well to keep them healthy.
- Floss your teeth once a day to remove plaque and food that’s stuck between your teeth.
- Limit sweets and sugary drinks, like soda or juice.
- See your dentist twice a year for regular checkups. We hope you’ll hear those two wonderful words: “No cavities!”
Risk factors
Everyone who has teeth is at risk of getting cavities, but the following factors can increase risk:
- Tooth location. Decay most often occurs in your back teeth (molars and premolars). These teeth have lots of grooves, pits and crannies, and multiple roots that can collect food particles. As a result, they’re harder to keep clean than your smoother, easy-to-reach front teeth.
- Certain foods and drinks. Foods that cling to your teeth for a long time — such as milk, ice cream, honey, sugar, soda, dried fruit, cake, cookies, hard candy and mints, dry cereal, and chips — are more likely to cause decay than foods that are easily washed away by saliva.
- Frequent snacking or sipping. When you steadily snack or sip sugary drinks, you give mouth bacteria more fuel to produce acids that attack your teeth and wear them down. And sipping soda or other acidic drinks throughout the day helps create a continual acid bath over your teeth.
- Bedtime infant feeding. When babies are given bedtime bottles filled with milk, formula, juice, or other sugar-containing liquids, these beverages remain on their teeth for hours while they sleep, feeding decay-causing bacteria. This damage is often called baby bottle tooth decay. Similar damage can occur when toddlers wander around drinking from a sippy cup filled with these beverages.
- Inadequate brushing. If you don’t clean your teeth soon after eating and drinking, plaque forms quickly and the first stages of decay can begin.
- Not getting enough fluoride. Fluoride, a naturally occurring mineral, helps prevent cavities and can even reverse the earliest stages of tooth damage. Because of its benefits for teeth, fluoride is added to many public water supplies. It’s also a common ingredient in toothpaste and mouth rinses. But bottled water usually does not contain fluoride.
- Younger or older age. In the United States, cavities are common in very young children and teenagers. Older adults also are at higher risk. Over time, teeth can wear down and gums may recede, making teeth more vulnerable to root decay. Older adults also may use more medicatiothat reduce saliva flow, increasing the risk of tooth decay.
- Dry mouth. A dry mouth is caused by a lack of saliva, which helps prevent tooth decay by washing away food and plaque from your teeth. Substances found in saliva also help counter the acid produced by bacteria. Certain medications, some medical conditions, radiation to your head or neck, or certain chemotherapy drugs can increase your risk of cavities by reducing saliva production.
- Worn fillings or dental devices. Over the years, dental fillings can weaken, begin to break down, or develop rough edges. This allows plaque to build up more easily and makes it harder to remove. Dental devices can stop fitting well, allowing decay to begin underneath them.
- Heartburn or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) can cause stomach acid to flow into your mouth (reflux), wearing away the enamel of your teeth and causing significant tooth damage. This exposes more of the dentin to attack by bacteria, creating tooth decay. Your dentist may recommend that you consult your doctor to see if gastric reflux is the cause of your enamel loss.
- Eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia can lead to significant tooth erosion and cavities. Stomach acid from repeated vomiting (purging) washes over the teeth and begidissolving the enamel. Eating disorders also can interfere with saliva production.
Conclusion
To conclude, Cavities are extremely common and nothing to be embarrassed about. The normal function of our mouths meathat most of us will get cavities occasionally.
Finding out about a cavity early can help you avoid pain and keep treatment simpler.