What Would Happen If You Never Got a Cavity Filled?

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What Would Happen If You Never Got a Cavity Filled?

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In some ways, the cavity is like a more serious pimple. They almost always arise out of neglect, poor diet or genetics. They're a literal pain to deal with. They can be costly to treat. And they almost always come when you least expect them.

This is, partly, probably why you're avoiding going to the dentist. Your teeth feel perfectly fine. But you also have a sneaking suspicion it's just chock full of nascent cavities. So, what would happen if you just never went back to the dentist and you did indeed actually have a cavity? Would you be damning your future self to a liquid-only diet? Would you die?

The short answer is it would not be good.

Contrary to widespread belief, sugar is not the leading cause of cavities it's acid. Every time you eat or drink anything that's not water, the bacteria in your mouth produce an acid. Cavities don't happen overnight, either your diet or hygiene or both has resulted in prolonged acid shocks to your teeth. Eventually the enamel of your teeth starts to decay to the point where you've exposed the dentin, the hard-organic layer just beneath the enamel, to the outside world. Now we're off to the races.

Since the dentin is organic, the bacteria is going to start to hang out there, and that's when the infection starts. Once the infection eats through the layer of dentin it'll make its way into the nerve. This, you can imagine, gets extremely painful. It also presents the first real risk of doing significant damage to the tooth, and would require a root canal to keep the tooth from decaying out of your mouth. At this point there's a chance that the decay has made it to an adjacent tooth, doubling or even tripling your pain.

Once the nerve of the tooth becomes rotted out, the infection will spread into the space between the tooth and the bone and form an abscess. This is, essentially an infection of the bone. If the tooth is on the roof of your mouth that could spread to your sinuses – which is not a good place for an infection – or if it travels to your throat you run the risk of your airway swelling shut. If it's in your jaw, you run the risk of developing a bone infection, which, because it's an infection will likely lead to further infections in your body and, well, ultimately death.

If you have a sudden urge to brush your teeth right now, you're not alone. So how do you prevent this nightmare scenario from unfolding? You brush and floss – twice daily for two minutes with fluoride toothpaste, but also you watch your diet. If you brush your teeth and watch your diet, letting it “rest” from “acid attacks” so to speak, you can actually heal the enamel before it becomes a cavity.

So, brush your teeth, floss your teeth, and don't sip that coffee. Chug it. Your teeth will thank you.