What Causes Cavities?

Your mouth is probably as busy a place as Wall Street. Miniature camps of living organisms are constantly parading throughout your tongue, lips, teeth and gums. Harbouring micro-organisms in your mouth is quite natural. Though most bacteria are safe and could even be advantageous, others can be quite dangerously. Specific types of these micro-organisms tend to attach themselves to firm surfaces like the enamel that covers and protects your teeth. They multiply and grow in number until a settlement forms, if they’re not eliminated before this happens. To make matters worse, additional germs of different types attach to the already growing colony on the tooth enamel. A whitish film becomes apparent on the tooth, as proteins that are present in your saliva also mix in with the infested colony. This film, known as “plaque”, is what causes cavities.

When you first notice a chalky white spot on your tooth, you should be aware that a process known as demineralization is taking place, where microorganisms, which are exposed to sugars or carbohydrates, manufacture acids that attack the crystal-like substance in the tooth’s outer surface. This deterioration process can still be undone at this point. The dentist can help the tooth to repair itself using fluorides. If this demineralization is left untreated, however, the precious enamel starts to break down, and the tooth can no longer repair itself once that surface is shattered.

The cavity has to be cleared out and rebuilt by a dentist. An untreated cavity will cause the deterioration to linger and spread through the dentin into the pulp, where the tooth’s nerves and blood vessels are located. Inflammation begins to happen in the soft tissues, and eventually the pulp can become infected.

You begin to sense the aching tooth as bacteria and acid leak through the cavity down to the root via the dentin’s miniscule tubes. At the same time germs migrate into the pulp in the centre of your tooth. The pain can become agonizing when the plaque-ridden pulp becomes swollen and blood supplies are cut off, which ultimately causes the pulp to die. Even though, the pain may diminish for a while after the death of the pulp, the microorganisms continue to labor their way from the root canal into the immediate bone and tissues, leaving them inflamed and infected within days, weeks, or even years; an abscess is formed due to this infection, which can be extremely painful, and necessitate complex treatment to save the tooth.

The general notion is that only children are affected by cavities, but what we have learned counters that idea, because changes that occur with aging make cavities an adult problem as well. A common adult gum disease like gingivitis can expose tooth roots to plaque and hence decay.  Anyone can be vulnerable to developing cavities, especially those who crave sugary foodstuffs more than others. Having lacked the benefits of fluoride and modern preventive dental care when they were growing, many older adults find tooth decay taking place around the edges of their many dental fillings. As the years goes by, these old fillings may subside and crack, permitting microorganisms to gather in the tiny crevices, causing new tooth decay.
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.