Tooth Decay and Treatment

Tooth Decay Treatment

You may wonder why every so often a dentist has recommended a filling to you. Some people get more tooth decay and fillings than others and wonder why this is. The simple truth is that drilling out the decay in a tooth and placing a white filling or a metal filling is not treating the real cause of the problem. Unless you get rid of the causes of tooth decay and not just the symptoms this process will be repeated in future again and again.

Tooth Decay Causes

We can tell you that tooth decay is seldom anything to do with “Soft teeth.”  The real causes of tooth decay are well known and documented the aim of our dental practice in Edinburgh is to work with you to help you understand what causes tooth decay. Once you know this you can then choose if you so wish to avoid the stress and expense of repeated rounds of fillings by treating tooth decay once and for all.

Some Facts to Help You Prevent Tooth Decay

• Every time you eat food containing any sugar your teeth will decay for 45 minutes.
• Brushing Your Teeth Immediately After – won’t help much. It takes 6-8 hours for the damage done in this 45 minutes to be naturally repaired by your saliva.
• Combine sugary foods with a meal to minimise the damage done and avoid snacking in between meals.
• Your saliva can repair very early decay in teeth, the presence of fluoride in your mouth will speed this process up.
• Consider adding a fluoride mouthwash or gel to your care routine in addition to twice daily brushing
• When tooth decay is detected early enough, it can be treated preventatively, often without filling the tooth.

Using close examination and Decay diagnosis tools we can identify these problem areas earlier than ever before. To achieve this regular examinations are necessary.