It can be quite a shock, going to the dentist and finding out you have a cavity when you haven’t been experiencing any pain or discomfort. It almost seems impossible; After all, aren’t cavities supposed to hurt?
At Imagine Dental, we know how confusing that kind of news can be. If you’re wondering why your tooth doesn’t hurt when you get a cavity, we’ve got the answers to set your mind at ease.
No Pain Doesn’t Mean No Problem
Pain is usually a good indicator that you’ve got a dental problem. Perhaps you’re suffering from tooth sensitivity, or find biting or chewing to be painful. Maybe you find consuming hot or cold food and drinks to be painful. These are pretty reliable red flags that you may have a cavity… but they don’t always make their presence felt. Sometimes these red flags don’t come up for months, giving your cavity a chance to get worse and worse while you aren’t any the wiser.
When tooth decay kicks in, it starts off by wearing away at your enamel. Your enamel is the outer protective layer of your teeth. This is the part of your teeth that you see when you look at your mouth. Decay can eat away at the enamel and you may not feel anything at all. It’s only when the decay pierces through the enamel and starts working on your dentin that pain really starts to set in.
Dentin is the inwards part of your tooth. It’s much softer than enamel and contains the channels that emerge from the central nerve of the tooth. When the tooth decay’s infection hits your dentin, it starts to corrupt your pulp tissue. This is what causes so much of the pain associated with tooth decay. At this point you’ll have to get a root canal to clear out the infected pulp tissue and relieve yourself of the pain caused by your cavity.
Don’t Wait For The Pain
A lot of people think that you don’t have to treat a cavity until it hurts. This is very incorrect. The best time to remove a cavity is when it’s in its early stages. By the time you start feeling pain, you’ll have to end up getting surgical procedures done to heal yourself. Getting your cavities treated while you aren’t caught in the grips of pain is the smart move to make.
For more information on why a tooth doesn’t hurt or to schedule an appointment, give Imagine Dental a call at 480-893-7733.
