Ongoing Dental Care is Critical for Early Treatment and Preventing Problems
As with so many other things in life, it’s the same with cavities: You can choose to spend a little time and money now maintaining your teeth, spotting cavities early and having them treated. Or you can wait until the cavity grows in size and spend a lot more time in a dental chair and a lot more money fixing cavities with a root canal or — the thing we hate most — the loss of the tooth.
The trouble is that many people don’t think they have cavities if they have no pain, so they don’t go to the dentist, don’t have their teeth examined regularly — and they pay a big price for that.
Almost everyone gets cavities, those holes in teeth that start off tiny and can end up eating so much of a tooth that the little that’s left has to be extracted.
The good news is that it’s a long way from tiny hole to expensive root canal or lost tooth, and the earlier the treatment on that progression, the better for the patient’s tooth and wallet. Consider that a root canal costs four times more than a filling, and you’ll see what we mean.
The reason you don’t usually feel pain early on with a cavity is the decay has not yet broken through to the soft pulp and nerves inside the tooth. Those nerves let you know in very painful ways that you have a bad cavity. But the fact remains that you’ve almost certainly had that cavity for months.
Unfortunately, by then it may be too late for a simple filling. Sometimes it’s too late to save the tooth, and you must decide how you want to fill the hole in your mouth.
At Downtown Dental Associates of Portland, we believe natural teeth are supposed to last a lifetime. It’s why we encourage our patients to be proactive, scheduling at least yearly dental exams and cleanings to maintain their teeth. Call us today to schedule an exam or if you have any questions about dental health.