Have you ever been surprised on a visit to the dentist? Sometimes, even if you’ve been having your six-month cleanings and keeping up with your dental hygiene, you still get a cavity.
They don’t necessarily hurt, but cavities need to be fixed as soon as they’re found, to prevent further destruction to your teeth! Here are three examples of cavities that you might not feel, but need to be treated…quickly!
The cavity in the top of your molar. Your molars, the teeth toward the back of your mouth, are meant to grind food. They are creased and creviced. You may notice that certain foods get caught in them: seeds from berries, bread, pieces of meat. When this happens, you might have a very slight cavity in the biting surface of the back tooth. The more food gets stuck, the worse the cavity will get since it’s very difficult to remove food debris from an uneven crevice.
The cavity between your teeth. If you don’t floss well or often, and especially if your teeth are close together, you may tend to cavities between them. Food gets caught there, breeding acids and breaking down enamel, leaving a food supply for the bacteria that cause plaque. The process eats away at teeth adjacent to it too, and works its way deeper into the dentin of your tooth. Since a toothbrush cannot get into that space to clean, it’s at a higher risk. Your cavity may start in one tooth, but the bacteria and decay will spread to the next tooth, leaving you with two cavities if you don’t have the first one filled.
The cavity on the back of your tooth. The back of your teeth is a hard spot to clean. You have to open your mouth wider than is comfortable and reach the toothbrush around, or stick both of your hands in to floss. This spot is prone to cavities and to inflammation in your gums.
Any of these cavities are likely to go unnoticed by the naked eye; you’ll only be able to see them with a set of dental x-rays. In fact, if you can see a cavity or feel a cavity, it’s past time to have it restored!
Fillings and Restoration in Rapid City
Pain and sensitivity in a tooth or gum and persistent foul breath are indicators of a cavity. But by the time you’ve having these symptoms, the decay has probably gone through the outer layers and into the pulp (nerve) of the tooth, making you prone to an abscess. At this point, the root is open to infection, and is likely to be very sensitive to heat, cold, and sweetness. It’s likely at this point that you will need more than a filling, like a root canal or crown.
Don’t put off your dental appointments or fillings! Even if you don’t feel pain from a cavity, it’s working its way through your tooth. Rushmore Dental can help you enjoy better dental health. Call today!
