Caries: causes, symptoms, treatment, prevention

Poor nutrition, stress, bad habits - all this has a negative impact not only on general health, but also on dental health. They are like the weak link and suffer first. Caries is the most common dental problem, from which probably everyone has suffered at least once. Today we’ll talk about the causes of its occurrence, symptoms and preventive measures that will help prevent it. 

Caries: photo

First, a clear example of what the disease looks like in reality.

Causes of caries

It is interesting that over the entire existence of science and caries, more than 400 theories have been proposed as to what causes this disease. We, perhaps, will not go into details of each of them, but will concentrate all our attention on the one that is recognized by modern medicine.

According to this, the main reason for the formation of caries is the presence of cariogenic microorganisms in the oral cavity, which, when carbohydrates are present in the mouth (very often these are stuck food remains between the teeth), convert them into organic acid. This acid negatively affects first the enamel of the teeth, and then its insides. It turns out that the main causative agent of caries is poor quality oral care. Soft plaque, tartar and food debris between teeth are all a joy for bacteria. It’s also sad that while soft plaque can be easily removed at home, tartar can only be removed professionally. At the same time, if you do not clean off the soft plaque for several days, it forms tartar and then microorganisms will begin to multiply around the clock.

Continuing the topic of bacteria, it is worth noting that caries is caused by three types of microorganisms: Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sanguis and Actinomycetes. In addition, it has been experimentally observed that the influence of their life activity is far from the same for people. In some they develop actively, while in others they “sleep” more. First of all, this is understandable strength of immunity. The stronger it is, the less likely it is to get problems with teeth and vice versa.

But that's not all. There are other factors that can also provoke the mentioned dental disease, these are:

• Dental wear. It makes oral hygiene problematic, and it is in these cases that food gets stuck between the teeth most often.
• Small amount of saliva and slow secretion. Saliva helps to cleanse the teeth to some extent. A healthy person secretes from one and a half to two liters of saliva per day.
• Insufficient acidity of saliva. In its normal state, saliva has a high alkaline content, which negatively affects pathogens. Otherwise, a low alkaline environment is a blessing for cariogenic microbes.
• The most common cause of caries development is poor nutrition. A large amount of carbohydrates in the diet, a lot of sugar, especially if this is combined with neglect of oral hygiene, inevitably leads to illness.

Symptoms of caries

Obvious signs of caries are sharp pain under the influence of third-party factors, including:

• thermal effects (cold or hot water, or air);
• chemical exposure (sweet, salty or sour foods).

Moreover, if there are no irritants, then there is no pain. Caries itself does not cause discomfort; it does not cause spontaneous pain. Once the factor is eliminated, the pain immediately stops. Spontaneous pain is characteristic of Pulpitis when caries has entered a new stage.

With deep caries, pain may be observed when pressing on the affected tooth. As a rule, this is especially noticeable when eating, chewing or biting. Severe pain occurs when food enters the kyriotic cavity, but removing food from the painful area dramatically relieves the discomfort.

Difference between dental caries and Pulipitis

• Caries is characterized by pain only when external irritants occur; as soon as they are eliminated, the pain disappears.
• Acute pulpitis is always acute pain; it is spontaneous and is in no way associated with any irritants.
• But chronic pulpitis still causes pain when exposed to heat. In this case, the difference is that the pain from caries immediately goes away after removing the irritant, but with pulpitis it continues for about 15 minutes.

How to recognize caries yourself

First of all, these are the painful sensations that we talked about earlier. The second symptom is sharp edges and unevenness of the tooth at the site of the lesion, which can be easily felt with the tongue. With caries, there is also an unpleasant odor from the mouth, since food debris that gets stuck in the carious cavity under the influence of microbes begins to rot. A simple examination of the tooth in the mirror helps to identify caries. Darkening of tooth enamel may indicate a problem.

Stages of caries

There are four types of caries:

• Generation stage. You may notice a dark or light spot on the tooth. The person does not notice any other changes or pain, there are no enamel defects.
• Superficial stage of caries. At this stage, damage to the enamel becomes noticeable, but the inside of the tooth remains intact.
• Middle stage of caries. The destruction process proceeds to the upper and middle areas of dentin, but the deep layers remain intact.
• Launch stage. The process when the destruction of deep layers of dentin occurs.

If the disease is not treated, then the infection begins to seep into the tooth pulp and inflammatory processes called Pulpitis are provoked. If treatment does not come at this stage, the infection begins to spread further, spreading to the tissues that surround the roots of the affected tooth. Then a cyst, a purulent sac, forms at the apex of the nerve, which is called periodontitis.

Bottle caries

This variety caries characteristic for dairy teeth, when defeat is happening « en masse". As a rule, this reaction of the body is due to improper or insufficient dental care, as well as improper nutrition.

This is the earliest type of caries, which often occurs in children aged one to three years. The baby's risk of caries largely depends on the duration of breastfeeding and artificial feeding. Before one year of age, dental disease is diagnosed in 6% of cases, before one and a half years - 25%, before two years - 40%. Bottle caries is a serious matter and should not be neglected under any circumstances, since in advanced stages it can lead to the death of molars.

Causes of bottle caries

As in adults, the main cause of childhood caries is a point accumulation of bacteria that generate organic acids that negatively affect the condition of the teeth, weak immunity, poorly brushed teeth, etc. Only a specialist can determine the exact cause of caries.

Classification of caries

Here, too, the situation looks the same as in ordinary caries, the same 4 stages: inception, initial, middle, advanced.

Treatment of bottle caries

Dental treatment for children is not an easy or quick task. First, you need to establish contact between the baby and the doctor and select adequate anesthesia. If the stage is initial, then you can use a solution with silver ions, which is applied to the surface of the teeth. But this method is good for “freezing” the development of bacteria. In addition, this particular technique is characterized by permanent staining of teeth black. But modern dentistry can offer alternative treatment methods that will not cause aesthetic discomfort, however, all this should be discussed with the doctor.

In advanced cases, only complete removal of baby teeth is possible.

Bottle caries can cause problems with permanent teeth and should be treated promptly. Better yet, provide prevention. First of all, this is compliance with normal hygiene rules. Limit the number of feedings with formula and breast milk at night, promptly switch your baby's diet to solid foods and use baby toothpastes. Take your child for preventive examinations to the dentist from the moment the first teeth appear.

Caries - what to do

In the first stages, as a rule, caries occurs without any symptoms, so many are not even aware of its development, especially since even regular self-examination can show false results. After all, it is possible that the lesion will be located out of sight. Therefore, visit your dentist regularly as a preventive measure (at least once a year).

However, if you notice a manifestation of the disease, make an appointment with a specialist as soon as possible. Treatment of caries at the initial stage does not provoke any unpleasant sensations and takes very little time. Therefore, it is better not to delay the process and solve everything at once.

Treatment of caries

The dentist will first determine the stage of the disease, how severe the caries is, and only after that will select a treatment method. At the same time, as mentioned above, the sooner the treatment procedure begins, the better.

At the earliest stage, when there is no tooth decay, remineralization with a special solution will be quite sufficient. In case of superficial and medium lesions, treatment of the carious cavity and filling are organized. Deep caries requires serious measures using medicated spacers that promote the appearance of “second” dentin, which ensures the integrity of the dental nerve.

Treatment of caries at home

Treatment of caries at home is best used as a last resort. If you have the opportunity to seek help from a specialist, do not neglect it. And yet, such treatment shows good results only in the very early stages of the disease, when there is no destruction of teeth and enamel.

So, let's look at traditional methods for treating caries.

• Sage. Pour a tablespoon of sage into a glass of boiling water, cover with a lid and let it brew for about an hour. You should rinse your mouth with this mixture and apply gauze soaked in the solution to the sore tooth for a while. Sage is a natural antiseptic that kills harmful bacteria and caries stops developing.
• Propolis. Roll a small pea from propolis and place it on the sore tooth, pressing lightly. Leave for half an hour.
• Laundry soap. Prevention and treatment of caries using laundry soap consists of routine brushing of teeth with this product. Prepare the solution by shaking the soap in water, dip your toothbrush in it, and then everything happens as usual. The healing properties of soap are due to the presence of gamma globulin in it. It is the latter that is responsible for the destruction of fungus, Trichomonas and bacteria. When soap gets on the tooth, it destroys microorganisms and caries stops developing.
• Onion peel. Simply rinsing your mouth with a decoction of onion peels will also have a healing effect on your teeth. Preparing the product couldn't be easier. Pour three large spoons of onion peel into one and a half liters of boiling water. Bring the mixture to a boil, remove from heat and strain through several layers of gauze. The decoction should sit for 8 hours, and after that it will be ready for use. Onion peel will disinfect the oral cavity and relieve pain - just rinse your mouth with the broth several times a day.
• Air. Pour 0.5 cups of crushed calamus root with half a glass of vodka. Cover with a tight lid and let sit for at least a week. You need to rinse your mouth with the prepared mixture for about three minutes, after which the tincture is spat out. Do the procedure daily before bed until satisfactory results are obtained. To enhance the effect, at the time of preparation, you can add about 20 g of propolis to the calamus.
• Fir oil. Soak a cotton swab in fir oil and apply it to the sore spot for a few minutes. By the way, fir oil wonderfully relieves aching toothache.
• Camphor alcohol. It works on the same principle as fir oil. Soak a swab in the mixture and apply it to the problem area for a few minutes.
• To relieve pain, use garlic. Apply the paste from it to the sore spot and wait a little, the pain will subside very soon.

Let us once again remind you that all the methods described above are an opportunity to stop the proliferation of bacteria, but caries itself is unlikely to be cured. Therefore, to get rid of it, consult your dentist.

Prevention of caries

It is always better to fight any disease before it occurs, i.e. usual prevention. It doesn’t take much effort, but it eliminates the appearance by 99%. Preventive measures to prevent caries are very simple.

1. Spend more time brushing your teeth and do it well. You can consult with a dentist who will show you how the process should proceed correctly, or watch videos, of which there are plenty on the Internet.
2. After eating, chew sugar-free gum. According to statistics, people who have this habit have holes in their teeth much less often than those who ignore this simple rule. This is probably one of the few cases where advertising actually tells the truth.
3. Reduce your intake of sweets and sticky foods. By the way, dentists say that the harm of sweets to teeth directly depends on how long the sweet product remains in the oral cavity. So, for example, eating a slice of chocolate will bring much less harm than sucking a lollipop.
4. Use dental floss. It helps remove stuck pieces of food between teeth.
5. And, of course, the highest quality and most effective prevention of caries is regular visits to the dentist. This will allow caries to be diagnosed at an early stage and help avoid long-term treatment.