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Abroad, noticed I have a cavity?
Chop Logic
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I'm studying abroad in Italy right now. In a week I leave for Bulgaria, where I'll be very far away from civilization for a month, then I go back to the U.S.
Last night while brushing my teeth, I noticed I have a cavity, or a black spot, on the bottom of my backmost tooth, where the tooth would touch food.
Should I see a dentist here in Italy or wait until I get back home in a month? It doesn't hurt right now, my concern is that I'll be out in Bulgaria and then it will start to hurt, and then I'll be fucked.
If I see a dentist I will have to pay for it, yes I checked.
What should I do?
Last night while brushing my teeth, I noticed I have a cavity, or a black spot, on the bottom of my backmost tooth, where the tooth would touch food.
Should I see a dentist here in Italy or wait until I get back home in a month? It doesn't hurt right now, my concern is that I'll be out in Bulgaria and then it will start to hurt, and then I'll be fucked.
If I see a dentist I will have to pay for it, yes I checked.
What should I do?
Chop Logic on
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I ask because getting a cavity taken care of now is a lot better than a root canal in a few months.
And a root canal/crown are an order of magnitude more expensive than getting a cavity fixed, too. So if you think you can't afford one, you really can't afford the other.
I had a monster cavity (first in years, surprised the hell out of me) while I was out of the US for several months. I went ahead and waited and had no problem.
Obviously YMMV, but a small cavity isn't going to turn into a root canal in a month, particularly if you're taking care of it and keeping close watch over it.
My advice is that you should baby the hell out of it, brush it twice a day, don't expose it to sugars, etc, and take care of it in good order when you can.
In America, even if you went to see a Dentist today, he wouldn't do the work today. He'd just consult and then reschedule to do the work.
So maybe you should just a get a consult and an X-ray to see what you're dealing with. If you're just noticing it, I'd be shocked if you were in imminent danger of it becoming a problem.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Who did you check with? The nearest Consulate is the best source on local information in situations like this nine times out of ten.
Also, if the cavity looks small, you can probably ignore it for a bit. I've had dentists tell me that a cavity doesn't even get fixable until it's been there for like, 6 months. But hey, my teeth are pretty strong (as opposed to my husband who has a problem every time he goes to the dentist). If you are really concerned (and it does look bad), get thee to a dentist for a checkup. Odds are he'll fill it right then and there. As for payment, try to work it out with the dentist beforehand, make it clear that you are a student without insurance, it's probably not going to be as bad as you think.
Stay away from sugar, and carbonation, and anything acidic like soda.
The only way it can be a root canal is if the infection is at or very near the root, and it doesn't sound likely that it's gotten that bad if you're just noticing it.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
I ask because if you have travelers insurance most offer stop gap dental work while you are away.
Satans..... hints.....
I was looking again last night and I have another one, so I made an appointment for the dentist on Thursday. Basically, it is... on my backmost tooth there is a black spot on the center of the bottom, where it would touch food, that does not exactly look small, and then on the tooth in front of that, on the inside side, there is a little black spot in the center.
So yeah, dentist.
Thanks for our help guys, although if anyone has anything else to say I'd be interested. I don't really know how this happened. I haven't really been eating candy over here at all, and oddly enough I have not been smoking here, where as I smoke all the time at home.
I've never smoked a day in my life, I don't eat hardly any candy at all, and I have maybe 1 real-sugar soda a month (if that)...and yet i've managed to rack up fillings on pretty much all my back teeth, and had to have my wisdom teeth pulled.
Could be a lot of things - brushing/flossing techniques, cramped teeth arrangement, food getting stuck somewhere unnoticed, etc.
You'd have to be a silly goose not to at least make the phone call and check.
It's a balance of a large number of factors which basically boil down to a simple chemical reaction based around the stability of the minerals in your tooth in acid environments. More acid equals more disolved minerals and more cavities.
While not all of the factors are currently understood we do know that the main thing is that suger is metabolized to acid by bacteria. Other factors affect the balance between health and disease but two things are certain:
1) If you do not have any bacteria in your mouth you cannot convert carbohydrates to acid (the faster the carbs the more acidic end products are converted, thus refined sugar is the biggest threat by far)
2) If you do not eat any sugar or other fast carbs the bacteria doesn't have anything to convert into acid.
Thus regardless of the other factors improved oral hygiene to get rid of bacteria and reduced intakes of carbohydrates will reduce the ammount of caries you get.
Saying it's random or that it depends on genes is just an excuse.
But that is basically rewording what I said and putting more dentisty wording behind "random, but acidic!" that I said earlier.