Filling is the most famous way to eliminate caries. But contrary to all its merits, it absolutely does not guarantee a complete deliverance from the disease. Sometimes it happens that caries can occur after a certain period of time, that is, repeatedly. Usually this happens 2-4 years after treatment. However, if the dentist made mistakes in the treatment, then caries under the filling can also appear much faster, already some time after the procedure.
Why does it appear
The reasons for the re-emergence of caries are as follows:
- Negligent implementation of the procedure. The dentist is required to thoroughly clean the tissues affected by caries, treat the tooth with an antiseptic, and remove harmful bacteria. If the tooth cavity contains areas that are affected by caries, then inflammatory phenomena will reappear.
- Poorly placed seal. If you prepare the tooth surface with errors, then the material will not completely stick to the tooth and dentin. The seal will not immediately adjoin, so saliva and microbes can enter the cavity. In this case, caries appears, and the material that the seal consists of begins to crumble.
- Shrinkage of the material from which the seal is made. When using low-quality dental materials, shrinkage may occur. In this case, there is a space in which harmful bacteria and microbes enter, contributing to the appearance of the disease.
- Each material has a specific shelf life. At the end of this time, small cracks appear in the seals, in which harmful deposits accumulate.
Secondary caries often proceeds without any symptoms and is expressed only by darkening of the tooth near the fillings or under it, for this reason, patients simply do not see the occurrence of the inflammatory process.
Treatment
As the name implies, the disease re-forms under a previously placed seal or occurs after improper treatment. Those with secondary caries have been advised to consult only experienced dentists with good recommendations that will conscientiously approach the dental treatment process. You should not save on the services of such doctors, in addition, it is recommended to turn to those specialists who have recommended themselves on the most positive side. Only in this case, the treatment will be of high quality, there will be no repeated caries.
Most often, secondary caries is formed under those fillings that were not very well installed. So, for example, the filling material applied to the treated tooth decreases with hardening in size. This can lead to the formation of large gaps between the edges of the hardened fillings and the tooth itself, and pathogenic bacteria will gradually enter the hole that has formed.
The main types of treatment for secondary caries
Even in those cases when the teeth were sealed correctly, relapse is also possible due to any external factors that you also need to know about. Secondary caries can develop after quality treatment, if a person does not observe oral hygiene, does not clean his teeth properly, does not use additional means to eliminate food between the teeth. Relapse is possible in the case when a person bites nuts or some other very hard foods too often, which can lead first to the appearance of cracks in the tooth enamel, and then to the further appearance of caries. Another provocative factor may be malocclusion, therefore, after treatment of secondary caries, it is recommended to consult an orthodontist.
Therapies
Only timely treatment by a competent dentist will help to avoid repeated caries, and the treatment process will be more successful if a person visits a specialist at a time when the disease will be at the initial stage. The main treatment for secondary caries formed under a filling consists in reopening a problem tooth. Then the dentist very carefully removes all affected areas inside the tooth. After a detailed check of the work performed, the doctor installs a fresh seal.
First step
If we talk in more detail about the treatment of secondary caries under a seal, then it consists of several stages. The very first is a complete examination of the affected tooth. The dentist begins treatment only after an accurate diagnosis is established, and before the start of the treatment process, the patient is given a local anesthetic in a certain dosage. The fact is that each person has his own threshold of sensitivity to pain, which means that someone will experience strong pain after two injections, and someone will need only one injection. Someone becomes scared at the sight of a syringe, in this case, the place where it is planned to inject the anesthetic drug is additionally sprayed with frost in the form of a spray.
After about ten minutes, this drug begins to act actively, and the patient does not feel an injection at all. After the analgesic drug begins to act, the dentist will begin to treat secondary caries by removing old filling material. After that, the specialist removes all the affected tooth tissues with a drill, this whole process takes a long time, since it is necessary to thoroughly clean the dentin and enamel from the affected tissues. As soon as the tooth cavity is thoroughly cleaned, additional treatment of these areas is carried out using special disinfectant and antiseptic drugs.
Second phase
If there is a middle or deep cavity, then the doctor must install a special dental pad to protect the tooth nerve from germs. Only after all these manipulations is a permanent new seal established, and is it made of amalgam, cement, as well as chemical and light composite substances.
All these components are mixed, resulting in a paste, which covers the treated area of the tooth. Such a seal hardens under the influence of UV rays emitted by a small special device.
Third stage
The last stage of secondary deep caries is a thorough and very accurate polishing of the hardened filling and its polishing, then the dentist recommends that the patient come on a certain day for a follow-up examination of the sealed area. It is important to consult a specialist with the problem in a timely manner, since with very late diagnosis, caries develops more strongly, the infection penetrates very deeply and reaches the nerve, which can lead to severe and sometimes unbearable pain. If caries is started too much, then this can lead to complete destruction of the tooth, which will have to be removed and not treated.
Primary and secondary prevention of dental caries
The likelihood that this disease may form is about 37%. Upon detection, it is imperative to take urgent treatment measures to prevent complete tooth decay. First, you need to remove the old seal, under which a relapse usually forms. Next, you need to clean the tooth of dentin and treat the formed cavity with antiseptic drugs. When the cavity is cleaned, it needs to be filled again. If this is not done, then the tooth can easily break after some time, for example due to sucking sweets. The cavity formed after cleaning may be too large for a seal, therefore, in such cases, the doctor may suggest ceramic inlays or crowns.
Prevention is also very important so that there are no relapses in the future. To do this, you should regularly visit a doctor so that he can quickly identify defects in the seal. If you identify the problem in time, this will cost less damage to dental health. After the tooth has been cured, it is necessary to avoid strong chewing loads on the first day after treatment, as well as to consume food products containing coloring substances such as black tea, coffee, etc. In addition, it is necessary to brush your teeth twice a day daily.