I am 22 years old and have had just about every one of my top and bottom molars drilled out by dentists over the years. What can I do to not lose all these teeth that have been deeply drilled? Each time I go to the dentist they tell me how beautiful my teeth are and that I’m doing a great job of brushing and caring for my teeth. X-rays are next and then the dentists show me some shadows and tell me I have many cavities under my enamel. When they drill, it is always very deep, with them digging out a lot of soft white tooth enamel out. As a result I have very few molars left without extensive fillings. My teeth have never hurt, nor have I had dark spots or any areas that look like decay.
- Mary from Texas
Mary,
I get frustrated with some in the dental profession who perpetuate this idea of “soft teeth” and who can’t seem to explain aggressive decay.
Aggressive tooth decay is almost always caused by too frequent eating. There are some disorders that aggravate decay, such as enamel hypoplasia, or cancer treatments that destroy the salivary glands, but those disorders are rare. To understand this better, there is an excellent page on tooth decay on the mynewsmile.com website that you can read.
So you have several things you can do to protect your teeth and keep you from losing them:
1. Minimize continual decay by limiting between-meal snacks to one or two a day.
2. Protect existing teeth with large fillings by doing crowns. Some dentists are reluctant to suggest crowns and subject patients to patchwork dentistry. But this is false economy and subjects your teeth to risk.
3. Have frequent checkups – certainly every six months. And if you have a tendency to be surprised by large cavities that only show up on the x-rays, then I would advise having more frequent x-rays. Don’t limit yourself to what your dental insurance covers – get the care you need.
I hope this is helpful.
Link: See our Los Angeles emergency dentist page.