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Hole in molar tooth

C

catherine

Junior member
Joined
Jul 7, 2008
Messages
9
I have a tiny hole at the side of both my molars they are like brownish in colour. Most of the time they dont hurt nor are they sensitive but sometimes i get this pain but it usually last for less than an hour. It is not specific to any tooth. I would like to ask your professional opinion whether i should get it fixed or leave it alone coz i’ve been to a dentist about this and she assured me that it was not a cavity…and what are the options for fixing it
Thank you so much for your replies
 
What did the dentist say it was?
 
I didnt ask her specifically what it was...but in my opinion it looks like tooth erosion or something along that line so what are your thoughts? She said it is not necessary to fix it but i'm just afraid that it is the cause of the on and off pain i've been having the past two years....
 
If it's erosion or abrasion then there's not much that needs to be done, other than to keep an eye on it and try to eliminate the cause, usually on the gumline of a molar, the cause is poor toothbrushing techique or over use of smoker's toothpaste.
 
Thanks for ur reply dr gordon :) I managed to ask my dentist when i went to visit her a few days back. Well she said that one of the 'hole' was a very early cavity as when she used the explorer to probe it, it sort of catches on the tooth. Anyway i just asked her to fix the tooth as i did not want to risk it getting any bigger.The other one she assured me that it was just a stain or some sort..She went on to say that the stain was probably caused by a white spot on the tooth that broke off.
Well she said i had a lot of white spots on my teeth is there any way that i can sort of reverse these white spots so that they dont become cavities? And do the presence of white spots cause some tooth sensitivity?
Anyhow she seemed more concern about my impacted wisdom tooth but so far its not causing me any pain and i've already read most of the post on wisdom tooths here so i think its best to just do nothing until it starts hurting.
Thanks for answering my post sorry if i have been too lengthy :redface:
 
Gordon, Catherine says her dentist used a probe to probe the cavity.
I've heard this is not a good idea, as it can make the hole bigger as well as poke decay that is only in the enamel deeper into the dentine, where caries cannot be arrested.
But other dentists say this is fine!
Catherine, my dentist says if a small cavity is only in the enamel, it can probably be treated yourself in order to arrest the caries, so no need for a filling.

Dentists can be too keen to drill in my opinion, and us patients too ignorant about new techniques to argue another way of dealing with it!
When it's very small, in enamel only, you have time to give this a bash, as it's not going to get significantly worse if you fail to arrest the caries over 6 months.
Decay takes months...years, to progress.
But you have to be committed to arresting caries!
;D :) ;)
 
Hey poppy, I really have no idea but i guess that's how they detect cavities here i don't think we have those high tech equipments to detect cavities like in the US or UK for that matter (though i'm not really sure about UK eventhough i studied in Glasgow for a year i've never been to a dentist there i was fearful of visiting the dentist at that time ) maybe gordon can enlightened us on this?
As for the cavity my tooth was already discoloured. My dentist did actually give me an option of waiting another 6 months but frankly i doubt 6 months of waiting would not have made any difference as it has been there for well over a year so i just asked her to fill it anyway. Besides the hole has managed to injure my tongue before and it does not look nice so that's why i got fed up with it ..
Btw she only probed the tooth that i was concerned about not every tooth. Mostly she just looked at the surface with the mirror without probing but she did not suggest xray or anything... i'm actually from malaysia
 
If she said you could wait another 6 months then she should have told you about how you can arrest caries, so wouldn't have needed the filling at all!
Not enough dentists are doing this in my opinion.
I reckon with good diet, loads of fluoride, and a remineralising product, you could have halted the decay and no filling would ever have been needed.
But this can only be done before decay reaches the dentine. It would suggest yours was in the enamel only, as she said you could wait a while.
 
Well she didnt said anything about remineralization just threw the ball in my court and asked me to decide but then i thought it wasnt going to remineralized again as it has been there for some time and i didnt want to endure any further pain shud the cavity get any bigger so maybe i was a bit hasty in making my decision. Then again i dont really regret it as it has been bothering me for a while so i just thought why not get it fixed when its still not that painful yet just a tad bit sensitive.
 
I guess if it was annoying you then you'd want to get it filled.
Remineralisation and arresting decay maybe won't happen unless you put real effort in! So she should have told you all the things you can do.
I'm using a NovaMin product, plus a high fluoride prescription only toothpaste (left on tooth at night) as well as a normal fluoride toothpaste twice a day. Plus a very good diet. So you'd have to put serious effort in!
The fact is, it CAN be done, providing it's not gone to the dentine, and in my opinion, dentists aren't telling people this enough.
 
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