A very popular Leeds dentist spoke up about the way the average person neglects their teeth. Dental cavities are a case in point. They are also known as caries and they are one of the most common ailments that humans suffer from. What starts off as a very small cavity can deteriorate with neglect and result in a lot of problems for you. Not only will you experience a lot of discomfort, you will also end up paying a lot of money for expensive treatments that are expensive in addition to being painful.
For starters, a bad tooth can cause you to have bad breath because it will be a place where food particles get lodged. You will find it almost impossible to clean it out and the food will remain there for long periods. The tooth can also get infected, leaving you with an abscess. A tooth with a large cavity will also cause you a lot of pain since the nerve endings will not have a protective cover of enamel. You will find it very difficult to eat or drink very hot or cold foods.
The dentist cautions against neglecting this particular problem because you will have to address it anyway in the end, by which time it would have become quite a big problem. What could have been fixed with a small and inexpensive filling will not have to be corrected with a root canal treatment or in some cases, dental surgery. In extreme cases, you can even lose the entire tooth.
When tooth enamel is breeched, either as the result of tooth decay or some kind of dental trauma, bacteria infiltrates the tooth and attacks the pulp at its centre. This causes an infection in the heart of the tooth that will slowly kill the tooth and spread to other areas of the mouth, if not treated. The body’s natural defence against the infection is to bombard it with white blood cells. This creates a substance called pus that will then gather around the infection causing a swelling called an abscess.
Dental emergencies can be extremely worrying and painful. If you have knocked out a tooth, have a severe toothache or an abscess; you may need to see a dentist as soon as possible. Knocked out teeth can be particularly important, as fast action to replace the tooth may be able to save it. Similarly, severe toothache or abscesses can lead to nasty infections that affect your other teeth and general health as a whole. Anyone who has suffered from a severe toothache will attest that it definitely counts as a dental emergency.
