Should I take this cavity seriously?

[DemonTree]

@Orville_mogul

Still mostly out of curiosity, is there any possibility that it isn’t actually a cavity? As I described, it was rather difficult for the dentist to identify. Could she have been wrong? Should I get a second opinion?

I had a friend who went to a private dentist after a few years of skipping checkups, and was told he needed 10 fillings! Not wanting to pay for so much treatment privately, he found an NHS dentist, who told him he only needed 2 fillings, which he got. I’ve also seen TV programs where they had someone get a checkup with multiple different dental practices, and they got a wide range of different diagnoses and advice. It might be that some dentists prefer to treat at the first sign of problems, and others to wait until they are more advanced and thus clearly need treatment.

Getting a second opinion isn’t a bad idea, just don’t go away and leave it another 15 years, or even another year.

@Orville_mogul

During the cleaning, it was the ultrasonic water pik thing that caused me to gag, as a small amount of the water still made it to my gag zone. I wonder if I can ask her next time to skip the water pik and only do the manual scraping. That part was mostly OK

Good idea. It’s much better to do the parts you don’t mind than to skip the whole thing because of one unpleasant bit. You could try again with the water pik after a few visits, too.

[BippityBoppityBoo]

@DemonTree

Getting a second opinion isn’t a bad idea, just don’t go away and leave it another 15 years, or even another year.

A second opinion is likely to cost more than a simple restoration of a pinpoint cavity.

A simple filling now is so much easier than a crown or, god forbid, a root canal in years to come.

[Crafter_Man]

Paging @rsat3acr.

[puzzlegal]

If you aren’t sure it’s really a cavity, and getting a filling bothers you, get a second opinion. Fillings don’t last forever, and can be less sturdy than natural tooth.

Sometimes, when the new dentist finds a ton of stuff, it's real.

My husband and i moved to a new town some years ago. We doing a dentist and both set up appointments. He hadn’t seen a dentist in a while, I’d had regular dental care.

His appointment was first. They found so many problems they only really examined one side, and had him return for a second visit to examine the other side. And they scheduled a ton of follow-up work. I wondered if they were just looking for revenue. But i went a few days later, and they said, “looks good, we should keep an eye on [the tooth my prior dentist was keeping an eye on]”. I think they were completely legit, and my husband had a lot of tooth problems.

On the other hand, when my lower wisdom teeth came in, lo these many years ago, my [then new] dentist immediately diagnosed cavities. I let him fill the first, but i felt suspicious with the second. I asked to see the x-ray, he said it would take a day to be developed, he just felt squirrelly to me. So i said no, and found a new dentist.

The tooth he filled needed a partial crown when i was in my 40s. The other tooth was discolored, but every dentist i went to for decades poked at the surface and moved on. I finally needed a small filling in it in my 60s. I’m really glad i didn’t let him drill it.

Admittedly, i have good enamel. (So my several dentists tell me.) But you probably do, too. Drilling is destructive.

Anyway, DON’T ignore it for 15 years. But ask the dentist what they think they should do. If it’s just sealing it, (non destructive) go for it. If it requires drilling away a chunk of your enamel to make room for the filling, i don’t think it’s crazy to get a second opinion.

[snowthx]

@Orville_mogul

@snowthx

Welcome to getting older.

Are cavities associated with aging? I hadn’t heard that

I was just pointing out wear-and-tear. This is why regular check-ups are important as we age - to identify and address small things before they become big things.

[rsat3acr]

Thank you for thinking of me @Crafter_Man. Retired dentist here(love saying retired) As a general rule I say if you trust your dentist follow their advice. In this situation it is hard to know. If the cavity is very small, that is still in the enamel and not reached the dentin I would wait six months and reexamine it. If it has reached the dentin I fill it now. The dentin is much softer than the enamel and decay can progress rapidly in it. The radiography should let you know if the decay is in the dentin. Keep in mind the decay is always larger than it appears on the radiograph since enough demineralization has had to occur for it to show up and there is decay where there isn’t enough demineralization to show up.

[Yosh99]

A gag reflex is my biggest problem with a dentist as well. I’ve found some Lorazepam makes a huge difference.

[Die_Capacitrix]

@Orville_mogul

She said it was up to me

If you’re going to wait another 15 years before your next visit, get it filled. If you’ve turned over a new leaf and will start going yearly (Swiss standard), and you know you’ll actually go every year, then I’d wait a year and see how it goes.

And in the meantime, if it starts causing pain, make an appointment to get it filled.

Considering your history though, get it fixed now. I sort of doubt that you’re going to start going to the dentist regularly.

You may want to investigate finding a dentist that has experience with patients with strong gag reflexes. Such a thing might exist.

You may also want to ask to get your teeth sealed, to help prevent more cavities. My cavity-free husband (older than 54 ) got this done. The dentist recommended it because my husband has really deep crevices in his teeth.