How long would it take for a "small" cavity to progress to needing a root canal?

[thirtythree]

Assuming you take very good care of your teeth (e.g., floss and use mouthwash twice a day, brush at least twice a day, chew sugar-free gum after lunch).

Yeah yeah, I know it's a question for a dentist, but humor me. Thanks.

 

[ballmode]

i'd like to know too

 

[broon]

82 days, 14 hours, 22 minutes, 8 seconds.

 

[Dunbar]

Why do you want to know? Is there a reason you don't want to have the cavity filled?

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: Dunbar
Why do you want to know? Is there a reason you don't want to have the cavity filled?

Yes.

 

[broon]

Are you anti-dentite?

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: broon
Are you anti-dentite?

Not generally.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: broon
Are you anti-dentite?

RABID anti-dentite. They oughta have their own schools.

 

[Drakkon]

it really depends on the ammount of daily damage you do to your teeeth...yeah yeah i got you brushed and crap, but every day if your drinking coffee/sodas, eating sugars or things that require grinding your going to wear that cavity more than you would if you were eating vegis and having soup all the time.

 

[torpid]

Uh... there is a wide margin between small cavity and root canal. In that margin are varying degrees of pain. It will start with sensitivity to cold/hot and progress into problems eating and then just constant pain. Surely you want to know how long it takes a small cavity to become unbearable and not how long before the core is so rotted that you need a root canal...??

 

[FoBoT]

you anti-dentites are trouble

Kramer: You think that dentists are so different from me and you? They came to this country just like everybody else, in search of a dream.
Jerry: Kramer, he's just a dentist.
Kramer: Yeah, and you're an anti-dentite.
Jerry: I am not an anti-dentite!
Kramer: You're a rabid anti-dentite! Oh, it starts with a few jokes and some slurs. "Hey, denty!" Next thing you know you're saying they should have their own schools.
Jerry: They do have their own schools!

 

[dawnbug]

If you're trying to decide whether to wait until it progresses to that point, don't.

My parents both avoided dentists for years, and when they started going back, they needed several thousand dollars worth of dental work, including a few root canals. They were in a lot of pain afterwards. It took a few years for them to get the point of needing root canals, and I'm sure that they wish that they would've gotten their problems fixed while they were still small.

 

[spikespiegal]

Just a suggestion, but one of the best tips a dentist ever gave to me was to gargle at least a couple times a week with warm salt water. This kills the bacteria that slowly eat away at tooth enamel more completely than about anything else.

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: spikespiegal
Just a suggestion, but one of the best tips a dentist ever gave to me was to gargle at least a couple times a week with warm salt water. This kills the bacteria that slowly eat away at tooth enamel more completely than about anything else.

What salt:water ratio did you use? Or did you jsut guess?

 

[CTrain]

Filling= ~$150
Root canal(+very likely crown)= >$1000.

Not counting insurance of course so even if you don't have insurance, get that filling.

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: LadyBuggy
If you're trying to decide whether to wait until it progresses to that point, don't.

My parents both avoided dentists for years, and when they started going back, they needed several thousand dollars worth of dental work, including a few root canals. They were in a lot of pain afterwards. It took a few years for them to get the point of needing root canals, and I'm sure that they wish that they would've gotten their problems fixed while they were still small.

I'm not going to wait till it progresses to that point, but I am considering waiting 6 months.

 

[broon]

Why wait at all?

 

[drnickriviera]

There are small cavities in my mouth that have been there for years. Started taking better care of my teeth and the decay stopped

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: drnickriviera
There are small cavities in my mouth that have been there for years. Started taking better care of my teeth and the decay stopped

Ooh, and you're a doctor too! (Kidding.)

 

[BrokenVisage]

If cleaned regularly I'm sure it would take longer then your next checkup to become that badly decayed.

 

[Epic Fail]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
it really depends on the ammount of daily damage you do to your teeeth...yeah yeah i got you brushed and crap, but every day if your drinking coffee/sodas, eating sugars or things that require grinding your going to wear that cavity more than you would if you were eating vegis and having soup all the time.

Is coffee bad if you don't add sugar?

 

[thirtythree]

Originally posted by: yamadakun

Originally posted by: Drakkon
it really depends on the ammount of daily damage you do to your teeeth...yeah yeah i got you brushed and crap, but every day if your drinking coffee/sodas, eating sugars or things that require grinding your going to wear that cavity more than you would if you were eating vegis and having soup all the time.

Is coffee bad if you don't add sugar?

It's pretty acidic. I think that might have something to do with it being bad for your teeth anyway...

 

[PowerMacG5]

Trust me, you don't want to need root canals. I had one tooth that went completely abscessed, and it was the most pain I ever felt in my life (Put it this way, I partially tore my achilles tendon, and needed surgery on it). I just kept shrugging it off, the initial sensitivity, then the pressure, etc...

Once it got to the point I couldn't sleep I went to a dentist, who sent me to an endodontist, etc... By the end of the whole ordeal, I was in so much pain it wasn't even funny. I had to have an emergency root canal, but since I was home from school for the weekend, and it was a Monday off that this happened, he couldnt do me there. So what he did was drill the tooth, and push all of the pus out through it. I had instant relief, and I wanted to hug and kiss the guy. I had the root canal started the next day.

I have since had two others. I didnt want to wait on them, once I started noticing the same symptoms, I called the endodontist up. I don't have dental, so as you can guess, my moth has cost me a very pretty penny. The root canals themselves run around 950-1000 dollars, and the crowns ran around 900 or so (I dont know for sure, they coulda been less).

All my problems came from bad dental work done by a dentist I will never, ever go to again. He improperly put in acrylic fillings, which were leaking, and causing my nerve cavity's to get infected.

Trust me, if you need a cavity filled, or a root canal done, go now, don't wait. The procedure itself isn't very painfull, just a little uncomfortable when they get to the part of the nerve that is still alive. The uncomfortableness of the procedure pales in comparison to the pain of the abscessed tooth tho.

 

[thirtythree]

Well, there's a new dentist at the place I've been going, and he didn't seem to find any problems with his little hook thing or anything obvious in the x-rays. There was a record on the computer that there were certain spots they were keeping an eye on though, so he compared my current x-rays to x-rays from 2004 and deduced that the spots were getting bigger and should be dealt with. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I called back and asked if he could compare my current x-rays with my last x-rays (late in 2005)--this is when they put a note on there to keep an eye on the spots and also when I began taking much better care of my teeth. He retrieved the 2005 x-rays but kept going back to comparing the 2004 to the 2006 x-rays. After about the third time I asked if the decay had gotten worse since my last visit, finally answered with something like "Well yeah, there's a steady decline since 2004." Other things that make me suspicious are that he says he probably would've filled my teeth a long time ago, when the other dentist obviously didn't think it was necessary. He also never referred to my decaying spots as cavities, which makes me think they may not have even reached that stage (not that I know what the exact criteria are). Furthermore, he said that dentistry isn't a science and each dentist just has to call 'em like he sees 'em. He says some dentists might just keep an eye on the spots, but he thinks I should just get 'em filled now.

So, rather than racking up more dentist bills that may or may not be covered by insurance, I figured I'd just wait till my next checkup and see a different dentist (recommended by my family) and see what he says. It doesn't sound like I'm in any immediate danger, and if there's a chance that I can go without getting fillings, I'd rather just wait.

 

[Deleted member 4644]

I got a small cavity in 2002 and just had it filled a few days ago. He said if I had waited much longer it would have been a major procedure. That said, he also said I was very lucky, and that many cavities become big problems within a year or less.