Every myth starts as an accident or coincidence, and then simple people start to believe it, until it turns into a postulate.
There are some popular myths or misconceptions regarding dental cavities. Some of them are listed here below.
- Caries is a hereditary disease, it runs in families
This is maybe the most common misconception. Just because someone has caries like his father did, doesn’t mean it is a hereditary disease. Actually, caries is an infectious disease caused by bacteria.
The oral hygiene, the type of diet and one’s daily habits are responsible for having cavities or not. It is that person’s choice.
There are, however, a few specific risk factors for dental caries which can be hereditary. Some abnormalities in tooth formation like enamel hypoplasia or enamel hypo-calcification are hereditary. These anomalies can make the teeth more susceptible to dental cavities.
Also, the size of the jaws and teeth are hereditary. For example, one can inherit small jaws from one of the parents and inherit large teeth from the other. This disproportion between the size of jaws and the size of teeth can cause tooth crowding. And as we know, crowding is one of the risk factors for dental caries.
Caries may appear to be hereditary, because when the parents have bad dental or dietary habits (e.g. not using toothbrushes, eating snacks between meals, or eating sugary food frequently) their kids will imitate them.
- Cavities are the only reason for tooth loss
Dental caries may cause tooth loss, but it is not the only cause. Tooth loss can also happen due to periodontal disease. The periodontal disease leads to bone resorption so that the tooth has no support, and needs to be extracted.
These periodontal diseases may happen due to bad oral hygiene, or occasionally some systemic diseases like diabetes.
- Filling of cavities in deciduous (baby) teeth is a waste of time ,and it is better to get them extracted
This is totally untrue. Cavities in deciduous teeth should be treated just like the permanent ones, although using simpler treatments , taking account of the young age of the patient. Extraction of the deciduous teeth before the normal time of shedding may cause complications later.
Besides, the child will not be able to chew the food properly, leading to possible GIT problems.
- Caries is caused only by eating sweets
Although sweets may cause caries, they are not the only food that does so. Both sugars and simple starches can cause dental caries. The sugars (e.g. fructose, glucose and lactose) are found in many foods, for example: fruits, honey, and milk. Starch is the main component of foods like potato, sweet potatoes and rice, but they also be found in seeds like beans and peas.
- The tooth-worm theory of dental cavities
This is a very ancient theory which dates back about 5,000 BC. No one could understand how a sound tooth turned to a cavitated one. So they supposed that there was a worm that penetrated the tooth and made holes (cavities) causing severe pain. The pain stopped once the worm died. That was why the ancient people used arsenic in dental treatment, to kill the tooth worm.
Contact a dentist or dental hygienist at Water Brook Dental in Washington DC for a dental check-up and other dental needs. Water Brook Dental has two locations in Washington DC. The Columbia Heights location is very conveniently located to Downtown DC, Northeast DC, Adams Morgan, Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, U-Street Corridor, Mount Pleasant and many other parts of Washington. The Eastern Ave NW location is conveniently located to Downtown Silver Spring, Takoma Park MD, Silver Spring MD, Colesville, and other parts of Maryland as well as Northern Virginia and other parts of Virginia.
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