Rotten teeth are an awfully common problem with the teeth. This problem affects any age group and gender people. Teeth become prone to diseases or problems right from the time you get your first baby tooth. There can be numerous reasons of dental problems and they should be treated as soon as it is diagnosed because rotten tooth are ordained to be dead.
Causes of Rotten teeth
There can be various causes of rotten teeth. Some of them are listed below:
- Poor dental care: Poor brushing or less frequent brushing may cause rotten teeth or create plaque as the food may be left in between the teeth and bacteria is not removed due to such dental habits. Inadequate care and lack of floss causes food remains to be jammed in between the teeth.
- Poor health: Poor health reduces the body’s natural abilities to repair damage done to the teeth. The reasons may be smoking, medications, substance abuse or poor diet. These results in the moving back of the gums, acidic saliva, infected tissues in gums and fever minerals to repair teeth.
- Saliva deficiency: Saliva naturally cleans our moth of the element which cause teeth decay such as acids, bacteria, and food particles. But dry mouth weakens the roots of the teeth and causes decay.
- Surplus acid: The high level of acid in mouth for long period of time is dangerous to the teeth as it can cause harm to the gums, wear down your teeth and reduces the quantity of saliva in the mouth. The acids which are most common in the mouth are the stomach acids and the carbonic acids. Carbonic acids reach the mouth in form of any carbonated beverage such as champagne or soda. Continuous sipping of such drinks reduces the saliva in moth and increases the pH. This results in dental problems.
- Sweetener: Regular ingestion of sweet ingredients causes your saliva to be sweetened which further feeds the plague causing bacteria in the mouth. This sweetened saliva and bacteria spreads to all the exposed areas of the teeth and causes decay. All the sweet items such as candy, honey, sugar, and other sticky substances causes tooth decay slowly and steadily.
Symptoms of Rotten teeth
Rotten teeth symptoms are not visible unless you have an infected tooth or a cavity. After this the most common symptoms are:
- Foul taste and bad breath
- Pain in the infected tooth which may become worse with time when you brush your teeth, breath in cold air, chew food etc
- Spots on the teeth, they may be brown, white or gray
- Tooth become sensitive to pressure, sweet food, extreme temperature, acidic liquids and breaks
- Fillings get loose
- When the decay get worse it can cause pus in sac at the tooth base bone or abscess, this is evident by swollen jaw, fever, swollen glands, and deep pain
- Loss of appetite
- Vomiting and nausea
The tooth decay is not detected initially without reviewing the dental X-rays. The diagnosis is done by the dentist by enquiring about the following things:
- Examining the teeth using the tools and mirror
- Reviewing the past dental problems and medication
Rotten Teeth Treatment
Dental procedure for rotten teeth may be different depending upon the extent of damage done to the teeth. The treatments are listed below:
- Fluoride: In the initial stage of decay the dentists usually provide with fluoride gel, paste or varnish to the teeth which can help in curbing the decay further. Fluoride makes the tooth less prone to the acidic attacks by strengthening the enamel and hence tooth decay is avoided. It also deactivates the plague bacteria.
- Fillings and crowns: if a cavity is created by worn out teeth the dentist will remove the cavity and stabilize the teeth with filling or crown. This filling makes up for the worn out enamel. It can be done with materials such as glass ionomer, composite, and amalgam. Crowns come into play for more damaged teeth. Materials such as glass, ceramic, gold, and porcelain are used as a crown to cover and fit the tooth remaining after drilling the decayed section of the tooth.
- Root canal treatment: When the nerve present in the middle of the teeth is infected then it has to be removed and replaced with crowns or fillings. This procedure is significantly painful
- Tooth extraction: if the tooth is too damaged to be repaired then it has to be removed completely in order to prevent it from spreading infection to other teeth. This can also be replaced with bridge, denture or implant.
If you encounter any of the tooth decay symptoms, then make sure to visit the doctor soon to avoid rotten teeth.
Rotten Teeth Pictures