Having a cavity is no fun. It doesn’t matter if your pain is minor or unbearable—it’s always important to treat a cavity right away, before it can cause further damage. But why do cavities hurt in the first place? Here’s more about what causes cavities, why they hurt, and how you can repair cavity-damaged teeth.
What Causes Cavities?
If you don’t brush and floss every day, leftover food particles will get stuck on your teeth and attract the bacteria that form plaque. The bacteria will feed on the sugars and starches you eat and turn them into acids that attack your tooth enamel. Cavities can also be caused by other types of enamel damage, like wear from teeth grinding as well as chips or cracks in your teeth.
Why Do Cavities Hurt?
Cavities don’t hurt when they first form. But as tooth decay continues, the hole gets larger and deeper. Large cavities allow bacteria to reach the sensitive nerves inside your teeth, where they start causing tooth pain.
Cavities hurt more when you eat sugar, because the acid created by bacteria feeding off the sugar irritates the nerves inside the tooth. The longer a cavity goes untreated, the worse the pain becomes.
How to Know If You Have a Cavity
There are many causes of tooth pain besides tooth decay. Your teeth can also hurt because of gum disease, sinus pressure, or grinding. So just because your tooth hurts, it doesn’t automatically mean you have a cavity.
Symptoms of cavities include:
- Spontaneous tooth pain ranging from mild to severe
- Sensitivity to hot, cold, and sweet foods and drinks (particularly on one side of the mouth)
- White, yellow, or brown spots on a tooth
- Pain when biting down
- Visible holes in your teeth
It’s always important to see a dentist for tooth pain as soon as possible. A toothache is a sign of a larger problem that needs immediate attention. Your dentist can give you treatment to prevent more severe consequences like tooth infections and tooth loss.
How to Treat Cavities
The type of treatment needed for a cavity will depend on the extent of the damage. Let’s explore the different ways to treat cavities.
Fluoride Treatments
In the very early stages of a cavity, the damage can sometimes be reversed by restoring the tooth enamel. Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that helps your teeth rebuild and strengthen enamel.
During a professional fluoride treatment, your dentist applies a high concentration of fluoride to your teeth. Fluoride treatments are generally more effective for cavities that have not started to cause pain yet.
Dental Fillings
Getting a filling is a routine treatment that protects the sensitive insides of your teeth from further damage. During the procedure, a local anesthetic is used to numb the area so it doesn’t hurt. Your dentist then removes the decayed portion of the tooth, and fills the hole with composite resin. The resin is colored to match your teeth and the filling is polished down to fit your bite perfectly.
Dental Crowns
Some large cavities require removing a significant portion of the tooth to eliminate decay. In this case, the tooth becomes too weak and needs more protection than a filling can provide. A dental crown will be necessary to cap the tooth and keep out bacteria. The crown looks like a real tooth and is colored to match your other teeth to give you a natural-looking smile.
Cavity Treatment in Flagstaff, Arizona
If you’re experiencing tooth pain, please don’t hesitate to contact Country Club Dental. We’ll determine the cause of your toothache and provide you with the best treatment to restore your smile and relieve your pain. Call us at 928-526-4314 today to schedule an appointment.
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (1/6/2023). Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels
