Tooth Decay

Dentist calls it: Caries
Treatment: Filling
Time: 20-60mins
Cost: from £120 per tooth

Tooth decay or as dentists call it, caries, is when bacteria rot away your tooth. Bacteria feed on sugar in our diets, and so what you eat, and how often you eat it is really important in your development of decay.

Every one is susceptible, but some people more than others.

If you eat a higher amount of sugar on a daily basis, you are more likely to develop tooth decay. And so we will talk to you about what you eat, and simple ways to prevent tooth decay. For example, sugar, natural or refined both cause the same level of problems. So we need to watch out for fresh fruits, as well as the biscuit tin.

How does tooth decay occur?

For decay to form, we need sugar to remain around for a long period of time.

In between meals, your saliva coats your teeth, and removes the agents that cause decay. But this takes a few hours to work well. Typically the gap from breakfast to lunch and lunch to dinner if enough to allow this recovery. But when you have sugary snacks in between meals, it can disrupt this healing process, not allowing full recovery. If this occurs daily, you are more likely to develop decay.

Therefore, we recommend eating all your sugar with your main meals, and in between meals, eat non-sugary snacks and more alkaline foods. For example, nuts or cheese.

Top Tips:

1. Keep sugary food and drinks to meal times
2. Snack on sugar free alkaline foods e.g. nuts or cheese
3. Drink water between meals. If you do have a sugary drink, use a straw to avoid the sugar from hitting your teeth

How do we treat Tooth Decay

1. Clean the decay from inside the tooth
2. Place a filling to replace the decayed tooth
3. If too much tooth has been lost we may need to cover the whole tooth with a crown
4. If there has been too much decay, it may have progressed down to the nerve of the tooth, and may require a root canal treatment before we’re able to fix the tooth