Cavity Treatment

[Evil Tony]

I recently discovered that I have a cavity in my back molar(wisdom) teeth, it's kind of an obvious cavity, but someone told me to avoid going to the dentist and rack up expensive bill (I don't have dental ins), to rinse my mouth daily with straight hydrogen peroxide.

Friend of mine said she's been doing this for a couple of years, and it has been helping her.

[BigTwinky]

Are you seeking advice or tips on doing this?

If so, I have never heard of doing something like this. Not sure how rinsing with chemicals will affect your teeth, your gums, your throat and so on.

[mapes]

Speaking from experience don't mess around....just go and get the whole wisdom tooth pulled.

[Thrashdragon]

Get dental insurance, go to the dentist, and then cancel it. Strike a blow for all of us that pay for it but don't use it enough to justify the cost.

Or bleach your tongue white. Your call.

[Trooper110]

I'll ask my mom next time I talk to her if you want, which should be tomorrow. She's a dental hygienist so she'll know. With my limited knowledge, that's not going to do anything for a cavity or for keeping you from getting cavities or gum disease in the future. You need to use products designed to keep your teeth and gums healthy, and you need to use them daily, most a few times a day. Brush and floss your teeth twice a day at least, use mouth rinse with anti-bacterial chemicals if you so desire (make sure it has the anti-bacterial). Visit a dentist every 6 months for a thorough cleaning and checkup. You only get one set of teeth, once you ruin them you're not getting new ones anywhere soon, other than the kind you glue in your mouth every morning. And never mess around with cavities, if the root of your tooth becomes infected it can actually spread across neural tissue and cause brain damage, there's a guy they bring in to my mom's office from the county home who got an infection in a cavity on a wisdom tooth, he just let it go and he's now a vegetable.

And as far as cosmetically goes, it might be because my mom is a dental hygienist, but teeth are often the first thing I notice about a person, and having discoloration or a missing tooth, or horribly out of place, etc. are a big turn off in women for me, and unfortunate and biased as it is, typically make me a worse first impression in a man.

[mapes]

I would highly recommend the sonic care tooth brush. It kicks ass....It's the only thing saving my teeth and gums.

[Trooper110]

I actually like the Oral B Sonic Complete toothbrush better, that's what I'm using now. Along with flossing and a mouth rinse called CloSys. Plus SF 5000 Plus toothpaste, it's prescription with a higher flouride content than normal toothpaste.

[Evil Tony]

I'll ask my mom next time I talk to her if you want, which should be tomorrow. She's a dental hygienist so she'll know. With my limited knowledge, that's not going to do anything for a cavity or for keeping you from getting cavities or gum disease in the future. You need to use products designed to keep your teeth and gums healthy, and you need to use them daily, most a few times a day. Brush and floss your teeth twice a day at least, use mouth rinse with anti-bacterial chemicals if you so desire (make sure it has the anti-bacterial). Visit a dentist every 6 months for a thorough cleaning and checkup. You only get one set of teeth, once you ruin them you're not getting new ones anywhere soon, other than the kind you glue in your mouth every morning. And never mess around with cavities, if the root of your tooth becomes infected it can actually spread across neural tissue and cause brain damage, there's a guy they bring in to my mom's office from the county home who got an infection in a cavity on a wisdom tooth, he just let it go and he's now a vegetable.

And as far as cosmetically goes, it might be because my mom is a dental hygienist, but teeth are often the first thing I notice about a person, and having discoloration or a missing tooth, or horribly out of place, etc. are a big turn off in women for me, and unfortunate and biased as it is, typically make me a worse first impression in a man.

Well, right now, until I can afford it, I'm thoroghly brushing the spot where the cavity is and using listering more frequently.

Actually, I dont know the "Growth rate" of the cavity, but apparently it had been there a while, so I was wondering if I'd just been "delaying" the spread of it?

As of now, it doesn't hurt much or not at all when I apply pressure to it..so I dunno, figured Cavities hurt.

Cosmetically, luck for me it's WAAAY in the back, and not visible to onlookers. My other front teeth are fine.

I know this one girl that said she gets alot of cavities due to an abnormal amount of "ridges" in her teeth, I hadn't noticed any bad teeth on her though.

[Trooper110]

Cavities don't necessarily hurt. They typically tend to start hurting when it reaches the root where all the nerve endings are, until that point they're just eating through the tooth structure.

Brushing it could keep it from getting wider maybe, but probably not deeper (this is my guess). Toothpaste is designed to interact with the enamel of the tooth to strengthen and harden it, not the inner layers before you reach the root.

And the only reason she'd get more cavities if she has extra ridges is if she isn't brushing enough or thoroughly, possibly combined with lack of flossing.

I have an extremely dry mouth due to my diabetes and the lipitor I take, plus it was worse when I used to smoke. Dry mouth can lead to more cavities since your saliva helps keep you from developing cavities (not exactly sure how, just what my dentist and mother tell me). I floss twice a day, brush at least twice, sometimes more, and rinse with anti-bacterial mouth rinse twice a day, and go to the dentist every 6 months. I currently have one cavity in almost 25 years.

And if the cavity is between or to the side of the tooth, it can potentially spread across to the tooth beside if you're not brushing it and keeping it clean of bacteria and plaque.

Honestly, once the cavity has been taken care of by a dentist, the best thing you can do if you can't afford regular dentist visits is to brush and floss at least twice a day and use an anti-bacterial mouthwash. Don't eat before bed without brushing or the sugars from the food stay on your teeth all night, same applies to soda and juices. Make sure you spend a few minutes brushing and cover every surface of the tooth and up along your gums, don't brush too hard and irritate the gums though.

[Evil Tony]

Cavities don't necessarily hurt. They typically tend to start hurting when it reaches the root where all the nerve endings are, until that point they're just eating through the tooth structure.

Brushing it could keep it from getting wider maybe, but probably not deeper (this is my guess). Toothpaste is designed to interact with the enamel of the tooth to strengthen and harden it, not the inner layers before you reach the root.

And the only reason she'd get more cavities if she has extra ridges is if she isn't brushing enough or thoroughly, possibly combined with lack of flossing.

I have an extremely dry mouth due to my diabetes and the lipitor I take, plus it was worse when I used to smoke. Dry mouth can lead to more cavities since your saliva helps keep you from developing cavities (not exactly sure how, just what my dentist and mother tell me). I floss twice a day, brush at least twice, sometimes more, and rinse with anti-bacterial mouth rinse twice a day, and go to the dentist every 6 months. I currently have one cavity in almost 25 years.

And if the cavity is between or to the side of the tooth, it can potentially spread across to the tooth beside if you're not brushing it and keeping it clean of bacteria and plaque.

Honestly, once the cavity has been taken care of by a dentist, the best thing you can do if you can't afford regular dentist visits is to brush and floss at least twice a day and use an anti-bacterial mouthwash. Don't eat before bed without brushing or the sugars from the food stay on your teeth all night, same applies to soda and juices. Make sure you spend a few minutes brushing and cover every surface of the tooth and up along your gums, don't brush too hard and irritate the gums though.

There's also something called "Stimudents" apparently they are wooden sticks that you can "rub" along the toothjust above the gum line ...because I guess that's an area where the toothbrush can miss.

But this is kind of a scare though....I think my cavity is on the side though, I just hope this won't be too costly work. Figured I could delay the inevitible till I find a job with good benefits.

[freak93]

When your friend says ridges she might mean crevices that are in the teeth that are about the size of one bristle on a tooth brush. Unfortunately they are impossible to brush because of their size. Mouth wash helps though.

There is a treatment where they pour fluid in the tooth to cover the crevices so you can't get cavities there. The reason I know is because i have them. My dentist does it for 25$ a tooth. So if you have to get all of your molars done about 400$. Pretty big price BUT a small price to compared to letting all your teeth get cavities.

A lot more fun too. Especially when you don't have enough novacaine but your in a hurry . If you do get dental insurance ask your dentist if you have these crevices. It also makes you feel better because then you know it wasn't completely your fault for the cavities.

[Trooper110]

Well, hopefully you wouldn't run in to any issues, and I'm sure there's people out there who go for years with a cavity with no treatment. A lot of what I've mentioned is worse case scenarios, especially the one involving brain damage due to infected nerves. Let it go long enough however and they could have to remove a tooth or do a root canal, and there is the possibility of it spreading to an adjoining tooth if it's right along the side.

I don't know anything about Stimudents, haven't heard of them before, again I can ask my mom though. I do just fine with brushing and flossing twice a day and use of mouth rinse with anti-bacterial agents.

I'll see what she says about waiting and what could happen, I know her recommendation already will be for you to get it taken care of as soon as possible, but I'll see what she has to say otherwise if I can get her off the subject of the issues with putting off getting it done.

[lady-MGS]

First, I just want to say that there have been people who have died from letting a tooth get to bad.

Second, what could be a 200.00 fix, can turn into a 2,000.00 fix. If you don't get it fixed by the dentist, it could turn into something to where you have to see an oral surgeon.


My brother in law had an issue like that this summer. It almost killed him and he ended up paying quadruple and going to the surgeon.

Good thing that did come out of it.. We didn't have to listen to him for a few weeks

[Devilguns]

After A traumatic experience with a dentist when I was younger, I didn't go for nearly 16 years. I had 2 teeth break almost simultaneously. The cost of repair was nearly $6,000.00 I was lucky thats all I had wrong.

Back in the day, nearly ten years prior to when I first felt the pain, my current dentist said it probably would have only cost me 300 bucks.

[mapes]

Dude don't mess around. Just go to a dentist to have em at it. Some times dentists will let you make payments. Call ask the front desk.