Cavities & Fillings
Cavities & Fillings

Cavities are the most familiar problem people experience with their teeth. Fillings are the most common procedure for correcting that problem. Around your teeth swirl bacteria, tiny colonies of living organisms, some good and some bad. There’s saliva too. Saliva is good. It helps to maintain enamel by contributing mineral solids and controlling activity. Cavities often develop because of the “hard to get to places”. These are the places where you would typically need to floss. By nature, these places are also the “hard to see places” in your mouth. So the cavities are often not easily visible to the human eye. With bacteria forming with food particles, it forms plaque that adheres to your teeth. As they eat up sugar the bacteria produce acids that dissolve the minerals that help make tooth enamel hard.
The enamel softens while the tooth surface tends to become poor. Tiny holes appear on the enamel. The acid continues to attack. The cavities become bigger forming a hole. As long as the plaque remains the acid will eat away at the tooth structure. Once through the enamel, the acid attacks the dentin. The dentin is the part of the tooth that contains sensitive nerve fibers. The nerves send out signals of sensitivity and pain which indicate a problem. If the cavity gets too large it can damage the nerve. If found soon enough a simple filling can be done. After the damaged area of the tooth is moved a filing is performed on the tooth.
The feeling then stores the tooth to its original contour. After treatment is done the filling should feel comfortable and natural. Sometimes after a large filling has been done, it may take a while longer for the area to feel normal once again. Eventually, you shouldn’t notice any problems. If you do, you may want to return to your dentist for another check-up so he/she may look for other problems like; rough edges or an incorrect bite that may need to be adjusted. A good filling should last for many years as long as you brush and floss regularly and continue with your regular dental checkups every six months.