General & Preventive
Dental Decay
Decay is a bacterial process, not an accident. Caught early enough it can be arrested and sealed rather than drilled.
- Detection, before it needs drilling
- Early
- Radiation dose than film
- Lower
- Intervention where possible
- Minimal
How it starts
Bacteria in plaque turn sugar into acid, and that acid dissolves mineral out of the enamel.
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Early on this is reversible: the tooth can remineralise if the acid attacks stop. Once the surface collapses into a cavity, it cannot.
How we find it
Visual examination and low-dose digital images together find decay while it is still small, and every image goes on the screen beside you as it is taken.
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We would far rather show you something to watch than discover it two years later as a root canal.
How we treat it
If the lesion is early, we treat the cause: diet, hygiene, high-fluoride or hydroxyapatite products, and a shorter recall.
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If it needs restoring, we take the smallest amount of tooth that lets us seal it properly, and we use composite or porcelain — never amalgam.
