We hear it every day. Maybe not audibly, but our ears are definitely tingling. Many patients, for a variety of reasons, will delay the treatment of fixing a tooth with active decay. The fact that it isn’t painful often gives people the excuse they are looking for to procrastinate. Meanwhile, month after month it grows. Unfortunately, as it expands, cost and difficulty in fixing it rises as well (not to mention the fact that cavities will often spread to other teeth). Often, by the time the tooth begins to hurt, the decay has reached the nerve deep inside. Once the cavity is that large, our only options are either root canal therapy or extraction.
The cold hard truth is that a tooth with a cavity will eventually find its way into a dental office. The only question is whether it will be on its owner’s terms, or on the tooth’s terms (with its accompanying middle-of-the-night toothache, and increased cost). If only we could go back in time and fill that cavity when it was oh so small…
