Hello, my name is Karla Madison and this is my blog about the importance of dental care during pregnancy. When I was pregnant with my second child, my gums would bleed when I brushed my teeth. I went to my dentist and he told me that I had pregnancy gingivitis. He also informed me that this is a common condition for pregnant women because their hormones are changing during pregnancy. I followed the instructions of my dentist and my gums stopped bleeding and were healthy again. I also started doing research about the importance of dental care during pregnancy. If you're pregnant, you should read this blog to learn why it's so important to keep up with dental care while pregnant. This blog will give you the information you need so that you can have healthy teeth and gums during your pregnancy.
When you visit a dental clinic for a routine examination, the dentist will not only take a good look inside your mouth with his or her own eyes, but the dentist will also want to take pictures of your teeth, called x-rays. One of the main purposes of these steps is to locate cavities on your teeth, and each step is vital as cavities have different stages of development. Here are several things to understand about the main stages of cavities that form on your teeth.
Stage 1: The Initial Stage
The first stage of a cavity is not always easy to spot or find, and it is not something that a dentist would be able to see by taking x-rays of your teeth. Instead, a dentist can often find a cavity in its first stage simply by looking at your teeth and poking around them. When a dentist looks inside your mouth, he or she will likely have a scaler in hand, which is a tool with a pointy edge. The dentist will push this tool into any area of any tooth that may look a little brown or discolored in some way. If the area that is brown feels slightly sticky, it indicates that there is a cavity that is beginning to form on the tooth. The cavity, at this point, typically will not have caused any damage to the tooth, but the cavity will damage the tooth if you do not pursue getting this problem fixed.
Stage 2: The Decay Is Eating Away at the Tooth
If a cavity has gone past the stage of just being a small sticky spot on a tooth, it might be in stage 2. During stage 2, the cavity actually begins consuming part of the tooth's structure and will likely be visible to the dentist's eyes. It may look black in color, and a cavity in stage 2 will appear on the x-rays. The cavity might be small or big by this point, but the decay is limited to just the exterior of the tooth.
Stage 3: The Cavity Goes Beyond the Tooth's Structure
The next stage of a cavity occurs when the damage from the decay goes beyond the tooth's structure and actually causes bacteria to get inside the tooth, and possibly even inside the roots of the tooth.
The best time to fix a cavity on a tooth is right away when it is first noticed. If you go to the family dentist regularly, a cavity will likely be in stage 1 when the dentist first finds it, and it will be easier to fix at this point. You can learn more about cavity formation by visiting a dental clinic.
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