Facts About Dental Cavities – Kids Cavities Included

The Problem of dental cavities affects over 90% of the population. Smaller cavities or holes in the two outer layers of a tooth may not be painful, and may also go unnoticed by the patient until some time.

What Causes of Dental Cavities?

The bigger cavities are problematic as they collect food and the inner pulp of the tooth, which has cavity, can cause irritation due to such toxins formed by bacteria that form due to collection of food.

Cold, hot, sour, or sweet foods thus cause toothache. Bigger cavities, which cause toothache, is the first reason people visit dentists.

Bacteria inside our mouth converts sugars we eat into acid plaque. This acid plaque produced by bacteria cause the inorganic hard layers of the enamel and dentin to become soft.

These softened layers are then dissolved by saliva, resulting into a cavity in tooth.

If not treated by a dentist in time by way of filling it up, the cavity can continue to erode and damage the inner pulp of the tooth, which has cavity.

This damage to the pulp can also result in pulp death, minor or major infection and tooth abscess.

Pulp damage will make tooth extraction or root canal necessary. This procedure will remove the damaged or dying pulp and an inert material will be replaced.

Please note: It is very important to know and be aware that the enamel on baby teeth is immature and full of pours.

It takes about seven years for this porous, chalky enamel to be replaced by mature, thick, dense, hard and shiny enamel. This makes children more prone to cavities than adults.

The bacteria that can cause cavity in adult as well as baby tooth are the following:

1- Those type of bacteria, are the six species of streptococcus bacteria infect and damage the smooth surfaces on the sides of the teeth

Those sides usually touch adjacent teeth, and therefore cavities forming on these sides can be difficult to detect by just examining it with naked eyes.

These cavities, after the pain and discomfort felt by the patient are detected by the getting the x-rays done.

2- Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria reside in the pits and fissures of the chewing surfaces of teeth.

These bacteria are responsible in rampant tooth decaying among young children aged between 3-12 years, causing cavities in both baby teeth as well as the first permanent molars that show up when the child is around 5 1/2 or 6 years of age.

3- The third type of bacteria are called Odontomyces viscoses whcih live at the back of the tongue and infect exposed hard outer layer of the tooth root called cementum.

In older patients and in patients with gum disease, the tooth-root and cementum are exposed and become vulnerable to attack by Odontomyces Viscoses bacteria.

Those are some important information you need to know about dental cavities.

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