Groves, Stains or decay (with pics)

My OCD has been driving me up a wall about this and I can't make it out to a dentist at the moment because of insurance issues (which are being resolved as we speak)

But like I said in my previous post, I brush and floss religiously and this is the back of my upper two front teeth and I eat a very low sugar low carb diet and the only change in the past few months was I started to drink diet Snapple but have since given it up (been drinking it for less then 4 months or so)

Im thinking they are just stains from the tea or shadows in the grove, and not decay (how could I possibly get decay drinking diet Snapple when it has no sugar and its on the back of my two front teeth where my toung is constantly and I brush and floss religiously)

Ones in the center of the tooth on the left and the other is towards the gum line, but l did notice that there was always a little indent there when I brushed and floss...

Please let me know what this is, so I can stop obsessing over it and get it treated if need be!

The photos are a little out of focus, but from what I can see the stains do not look like decay.
I have no idea what snapple is, but I am visiting the good ol' US of A soon so will be sure to seek out and try some then.

Lincoln

Snapple is a tea brand. I usually only drink water, but I tried it for a few months and this happened so I'm stopping it. Sry for the low quality photos its hard to take pics of your teeth with an iPhone plus lol.

So you see no signs of any decay right?

No signs fortunately. It is very hard to get a sharp a good close up of teeth with a phone camera especially if you are trying to do it yourself.
Thanks of enlightening me about Snapple, think I'll give it a miss on your advice!

drhirst said:

No signs fortunately. It is very hard to get a sharp a good close up of teeth with a phone camera especially if you are trying to do it yourself.
Thanks of enlightening me about Snapple, think I'll give it a miss on your advice!

Click to expand...

Thanks. I made an appointment for a checkup in 2 weeks just to be sure. I doubt it could be. Theres no sugar in snapple and those teeth i know for a fact i brush and flosss atleast twice a day plus my toung is always constantly on them.

Decay or stains...REUPLOAD WITH HIGHER RES PIC

APPLOGIE FOR A RE UPLOAD BUT I NEED TO BE SURE....I got a checkup next week, but I got to be honest the OCD is killing me and I'm not sleeping at night or barely eating. I brush and floss religiously, and eat low carb low sugar diet..

last year I got into the habit of drinking DIET SNAPPLE LEMON and PEACH tea...It has no sugar or carbs, 10 calories...

anyhow, I always waited 45 minutes after eating and drinking to brush and floss to avoid enamel erosion. I noticed this while doing a checkup on myself with my dental mirror these marks, and had a severe panic attack which has triggered my OCD, where I posted on here a few times...

Anyhow, I managed to get higher res pics of the problem and circled the issues I have. Logically, I think these are stains..my diet and brushing habits doesn't support the formation of caries, especially on the top front two teeth which is easy to reach...

I posted blurry photos before but here are high res ones..please note the green blue mark are on the old dental mirror, not the teeth...

Im preying this is staining and not decay, caused by the nature of the tea staining groves in the back of my front teeth. If it is decay I just want to be mentally prepared to except that come next Thursday that way I don't have a mental breakdown in the office..

Thanks

Re: Decay or stains...REUPLOAD WITH HIGHER RES PIC

They look like stains to me, but I'm no professional.

I had a couple of similar looking stains behind my lower incisors that I managed to scrape off gently with a dental scraper. I've seen cavities before, (both active and arrested ones) and it seems they are usually of a shade of very deep dark brown (almost black), occasionally surrounded with a chalky whitish outline around the site.

Since you have already scheduled a dentist visit next week, try not to think too much about it, (I know easier said than done) Thursday will roll by very soon!

Checkup Thursday, OCD in overdrive. Need Some perspective.

I know I post a lot here, and I apologize but I just wanted to get some perspective.

Last Dentist Visit was in 2015. Last dental work was 2007-8ish with a small filling. I haven't gone a single day where I haven't brushed and flossed my teeth at least twice a day. As a rule, I always tell my phone to remind me to brush and floss 45 minuets after eating ANYTHING to avoid Enamel Erosion. I don't drink soda, I rarely eat candy (and when I do I almost always get an upset stomach and panic attacks)

My diet is 90% low carbs food. In the past few years, I have had cheat days, but even then, I've still kept a primary low carb low sugar diet.

I brush for 2 minuets and use floss sticks. I have a small dental mirror I use to check my teeth to make sure I get all food particles. I usually floss first, use Crest Pro Health and i let the foam sit on my teeth that way they get a source of Floride. I do not use a mouthwash, as most use Alcohol and actually dry out your mouth, and I use a electric soft toothbrush with a 360 degree rotating head and up and down brush beneath it.

The only major change in my diet was in the past 6 months where I started drinking diet Snapple Lemmon or Peach Tea. It has no sugar in it, (artificial sweeteners) and the 45 minute rule still applied. I notice what im hoping (and I posted pictures of this) is staining on the back of my upper front teeth which set me into a panic and triggered my Dental OCD into overdrive. (which was always somewhat active but kept in balanced by routine)

I know almost every grove, pit, fissure, of my mouth. Outside of the staining on the back of the front teeth, I have notice no known changes on any of my teeth what so ever. Every pit, grove, filling, etc seems exactly the same as it has been for the past 10 years since my Dental work.

Due to other stresses in my personal life and the discovery of the stains on the back of my front teeth, my Dental OCD has gone into overdrive. Im constantly paranoid about every imaginable dental problem I might have, etc...despite no pain, no obvious changes in my teeth, etc..

I take no medications, and since the staining, I have reverted back to only drinking water (which was a staple of my diet for the past decade anyway)

Based on all of this information, outside the need for a cleaning, what are the odds of me needing any dental work come the exam Thursday?

Id like some realistic expectations and perspective. I can't see anything beyond Thursday, im scared to eat with the illogical fear im going to somehow magically get a cavity between then and now, and its driving me insane.

Thanks for the input and patience dealing with me.
-Al

Re: Checkup Thursday, OCD in overdrive. Need Some perspective.

Hi Al, hopefully you don't mind me answering again.

Decay needs bacteria (plaque), food for the bacteria (sugar/carbs) and time to develop (if brushed thoroughly, once a day would be sufficient, because 24h-48h is the time for the bacteria to develop enough to be able to take action towards attacking the enamel at all). If one of the factors is missing, no decay can get developed.

This means that if you don't eat carbs and sugar, your bacteria wouldn't have enough food to multiply into the content to be able to attack your enamel. If you brush at least once every 24h thoroughly, and you absolutely do, then there is never enough bacteria for long enough to attack the enamel. And then there is also the saliva which remineralizes your teeth between meals and even if you ever had enough plaque on the teeth for enough time to attack the enamel, it would still take months for a cavity to form. Even if one of these factors weren't flawless, you still would have a hard time of developing decay.

So given the information about your diet and brushing habits it's impossible for you to have developed decay and you have nothing to worry about. The fact that every other grove, pit and fissure in your mouth stayed unchanged only confirms this.

Your dental hygiene and eating habits have been flawless for at least the last ten years, there is no chance for decay to develop under this circumstances.

Hope this helps, all the best for Thursday, may the waiting time pass very quickly.

UPDATE...

I had to cancel my appointment for my checkup due to a massive Nor'easter that hit my area and dumped over a foot of snow on the ground the day of my appointment. I called and reschedualed for April 5th at 12:40pm EST.

Hopefully nothings wrong and the checkup goes as planned and i can put all this behind me and go for checkups and cleanings once a year.

I just want to be given the all clear, and actually limit my time on this site to as little as possable as it is a trigger to my OCD.

Ill chime in after the checkup and give you all an update

Thank you so much for the support.
Al

Your photography skills are developing nicely. Those marks look like harmless stains to me.

Thanks my friend. Come thursday i hope your proven correct, and i need no work outside of a long overdue cleaning and i can put this all behind me!