Leaving a Cavity Untreated

Cavity's bacteria

What might happen if you leave a cavity in your mouth without treating it? Tooth decay is like an infection. It is made of harmful microscopic bugs that use sugar to attack teeth. With time this creates a little hole in a tooth, and if not repaired with a filling, the cavity continues to grow.

If a cavity is not treated it can destroy a good part of the tooth, making it hard to be rapaired with a conventional filling. If a lot of the tooth is gone, only a crown can fix it.

If the decay’s micro-organisms reach the pulp chamber, where the nerve and blood vessels are located, then the pulp becomes irritated and infected. This can eventually lead to an abscess which can be very painful. Only a root canal can fix a tooth when its pulp is infected, and a crown is then probably needed as a final restoration.

There are also situations where a tooth is so much destroyed by a cavity that nothing can be done to fix it, not even a root canal and a crown. In that case the tooth would sadly need to be extracted.

Full article: What Happens if You Don’t Treat a Cavity?
In French: Laisser une carie sans la traiter

Mercury in Dental Fillings

Amalgam is an alloy that has been used to fill decayed teeth for a very long time. People mostly say grey fillings when referring to this kind of filling. This alloy contains silver, copper, tin and mercury.

It’s the mercury that worries people who have grey fillings in their teeth. There are dentists who totally discourage amalgam fillings, and instead recommend composite fillings, or porcelain or gold inlays.

Is it absolutely necessary to remove all your grey fillings if you have some in your mouth?

There are countries that have banned amalgam, but several professional dental associations, including the ones of Canada and the United States, that do not totally discourage amalgam use for fillings. So there is no need to be alarmed if you have grey fillings, and you can keep them in your mouth as long as they are in good shape and do not need to be changed. But when it comes time replace them, it would be preferable to chose another filling material, mainly white composite fillings, which are more aesthetic and do not contain mercury.

Full Article: Is amalgam in teeth (grey fillings) bad for your health?
In French: Mercure dans les plombages dentaires