How Do Dental Caries Happen?
Dental cavities or we can say tooth decay is now a very common problem among children and youngsters worldwide. But, if it leads to severe, then it can be dangerous for your general health as well. It often causes infection and pain. If the infection and pain start to increase, your dentist will extract your damaged tooth. Some patients said that dental caries is an expensive disease to treat. Dental Cary affects many people.
However, you can treat your dental caries at the correct time. Even the people with 60+ can get affected by dental caries. You know that young children are at risk for early childhood caries. It is called baby bottle tooth decay. This type of tooth decay or dental caries starts in the front teeth of the baby. Gradually, it extends to the back teeth.
What causes dental caries?
The major reason behind the cavity is dental tooth decay. Over time, this entire process occurs. Let’s see how tooth caries happens:
Forming plaque: You might have heard about dental plaque caries. It is a clear sticky film. Plaque coats your teeth. People, who love eating sugars and starches, but forget to clean the teeth properly. This is the major reason behind occurrence of plaque. So, it is important that you must clean your teeth properly after finishing sugary food. Else, the bacteria on your teeth start eating the stick sugar from your teeth.
Gradually it will form a plaque. This plaque can stay on your teeth. It can harden above or under your gum line into tartar. And this tartar makes it impossible to remove the plaque. It eventually creates a shield for bacteria. Only a dental professional can remove plaque.
Attacks of plaque: The bacteria releases acid. This acid removes minerals from your teeth. The outermost layer of your teeth is known as enamel. This is the hardest layer. Because of the acid, tiny holes are created in the enamel. It is the first stage of cavity. After completely damaging your enamel, it will attack dentin. Dentin is the next layer of your teeth. This layer is not as hard as enamel. So, eventually, the cavity started spreading.
Continuous damage: After destroying enamel and dentin, this acid reaches pulp. Pulp is the inner layer of your teeth. It contains blood vessels and nerves. The bacteria make the pulp irritated and swollen. It causes pain.
What are the symptoms of dental caries?
For every patient, the symptoms of dental caries varies. But, there are a few basics that you must take care of. Like, at the beginning, there will be no notification of any type of symptoms.
But, if the spreading of dental caries has started, then there comes a few symptoms that might be similar in most of the patients. So, as soon as you find these symptoms with you, immediately visit to the dentist. So, the symptoms include are:
- You will experience toothache or any other pain.
- You will get tooth sensitivity.
- You may feel mild but sharp pain while drinking or eating something hot, sweet, or cold.
- You can see tiny holes in your teeth.
- You may also experience black, white, or brown staining on your tooth.
- There are chances of feeling pain while biting down.
What is the treatment for dental caries?
Dental Caries can be easily recognized at the early stage, and if it happens so, then your dentist can effectively treat it. Dentist can apply fluoride, which helpfully reverse the decay problem. But sometimes patients cannot recognize dental caries earlier. So, a tiny hole (cavity) forms on their tooth.
In this case, dentists mainly treat cavities by filling them. Now, your decayed tooth’s tissue is removed by the dentist. Now, the dentist can be able to restore your tooth by filling it with a filling material.
How to prevent dental caries?
- Use fluoride toothpaste and mouthwash.
- Brush your teeth twice a day.
- Floss your teeth once a day.
- Avoid eating sugary foods and beverages.
- Avoid using tobacco.
- Visit your dentist every six months.
