# Time Between Cavities **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2008, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172 "2008-06-25T07:34:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![22\_Kilometers\_East](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/6bbea6/32.png) [@22\_Kilometers\_East](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/22_Kilometers_East)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/1 "2008-06-25T07:34:43Z")
What is the longest you’ve gone between having teeth filled? I realized a few weeks ago (when having a cavity filled, naturally), that it had been 28 years since my last filling. Kudos, of course, to anyone who has never had a cavity! 😉 22KE ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/2 "2008-06-25T07:58:36Z")
Lessee here, I haven’t had any cavities since I got braces and that was in 7th grade and I was _counts on fingers_ 13 then so 19-13 is 6 but I had probably gone a year before that cavity free, so somewhere between 6 and 7 years. (I didn’t brush or floss very well as a child. I know I had to get at least 3 cavities filled and I regret not taking care of my teeth better because I have some pretty garish-looking fillings on some of the molars.) ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/3 "2008-06-25T11:54:02Z")
Got my first cavity at 50. And it wasn’t a real cavity. It was an underground issue that they filled preemptively. That kinda pissed me off. ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/4 "2008-06-25T13:34:55Z")
30 years. I got a filling in the side of my lower right wisdom tooth when I was 23. It’s still there. It’s my only filling (knock on wood) if you don’t count the one in the stub of my incisor. I broke the incisor off at the gum line in 7th grade and had to get a root canal. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/5 "2008-06-25T14:09:50Z")
It’s been a long time for me - but I’m having 4 filled tomorrow. Each is at the site of a previous filling. Damn, I gotta floss more. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be the loser drooling on himself and moaning in the corner. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/6 "2008-06-25T14:24:10Z")
I have one small cavity which was filled when I was 18, 22 years ago. In a related story, I lost my last baby tooth at the age of 37. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/7 "2008-06-25T14:58:22Z")
I’ve never had one (the cavity or the filling). ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/8 "2008-06-25T15:11:14Z")
About 24 years? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/9 "2008-06-25T15:46:44Z")
32 years old, never had one. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/10 "2008-06-25T16:34:01Z")
39yo, never had one (although this is a helpful reminder that it’s time to go confirm that). ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/11 "2008-06-25T17:49:18Z")
Well, I know that I’ve had one for a while, but hadn’t gone to the dentist about it. The last time I went to the dentist, I was 14-ish. Now I’m 21, and I have one on a wisdom tooth, and one on a non-wisdom tooth, and am scheduled to get them both fixed. Dentists terrify me! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/12 "2008-06-25T21:28:37Z")
I’m finding that the more crowns I have put in, the less trouble I have with cavities. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![22\_Kilometers\_East](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/6bbea6/32.png) [@22\_Kilometers\_East](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/22_Kilometers_East)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/13 "2008-06-26T06:53:39Z")
[QUOTE=chaoticbear] Well, I know that I’ve had one for a while, but hadn’t gone to the dentist about it. The last time I went to the dentist, I was 14-ish. Now I’m 21, and I have one on a wisdom tooth, and one on a non-wisdom tooth, and am scheduled to get them both fixed. Dentists terrify me! [/QUOTE] I had a great dentist - in fact, I went to him for about 25 or 26 years. I only stopped going because we moved. I recommended so many patients to him that he sent me a gift card to take my wife to dinner. (My wife was a recommentation to him as well, and she was also terrified of dentists. She became a model patient.) ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/14 "2008-06-26T08:50:25Z")
About 24 years. My last cavity was at about 12 years old, and I’m 36 now. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-between-cavities/454172/15 "2008-06-26T16:53:40Z")
Man, I was proud that it’s been a good four years for me!