Years and years of neglected oral health leads to caries and tooth decay. And you keep pushing back the dentist’s appointment – somehow, you just can’t make time…till one day, the pain becomes so unbearable that you can’t even breathe without feeling the pain.
But why let it get to that stage in the first place?
The fact is that even if you haven’t paid the proper attention to your dental hygiene, you can always start now…in fact, even as you start feeling the discomfort in your teeth, if you actually take action against it, you can actually bypass a lot of pain and even tooth decay.
And here’s some great news – you can actually start at home…and cure tooth decay with home remedies. But there’s always the dentist ready with professional help.
Your dentist will first take a look at how bad your teeth are – and once he ascertains the stage of decay, he can go ahead and prescribe any of the following treatments—
1. Fluoride treatment: are meant for the early stages of dental decay, and can take anywhere between 5 to 10 minutes to start its action. What happens is that the dentist will apply a lotion/ointment/gel high in fluoride to your teeth. And this fluoride can actually help repair the teeth enamel and get rid of the caries and the damage wrought.
2. Filling: it is the next treatment option, and is more of a restorative treatment. Filling actually involves drilling through the caries and getting rid of it. The next step is to fill in the space in your tooth caused by the decay. The dentist will use a tooth colored resin-like material or porcelain or mercury based substance to seal the hole in your tooth. This might take one to two sittings.
3. Crown: in this case, the drilling process is followed by the dentist taking a mold of your teeth and creating a ‘crown’ for your tooth. The crown is then placed and fitted into place to seal the hole caused by the carries.
4. Root canal: this is a rather advanced treatment option – in this case the dentist is going to use local anesthesia and create an incision near the top of the tooth – then surgically take out the rotting pulp. The next step is sealing in the tooth with a rubber like substance and sealing paste. And a crown treatment usually follows to protect the tooth.
5. Tooth extraction: this is the last resort. The decayed tooth is taken out – but the gap in your teeth can cause the other teeth to get dislodged. In this case, you need a dental implant or bridge to fill up the gap.
But now let’s look at treating tooth decay at home:
Yes, in the earlier stages of tooth decay, you can actually cure it at home, without professional intervention. And here’s what you will have to do and keep in mind—
6. Food habits: you need to change your eating habits, and for that you have to…
Limit phytic acid:phytic acid is found mostly in grains, nuts, seeds and legumes. These actually inhibit the absorption of the necessary nutrients in the body – mainly calcium and magnesium, both needed for good teeth.
Eat teeth building foods: this includes food with healthy fats –and teeth building foods like grass fed meats, and organic dairy. You can also make your own bone broth – anything that will be high in calcium.
7. Reminiralize your teeth: this is the home version of a fluoride treatment – you can make your own fluoride high toothpaste at home.
Use 5 parts of calcium powder, 2 parts baking soda, 1 part of diatomaceous earth, 3 parts xylitol powder and finish the mixture with 3-5 parts of coconut oil.
8. Supplements: try taking vitamin supplements – they help restore your oral health. Try a multivitamin supplement to get all the important vitamins in your system.
9. Oil swab: you can also use an oil swab – juts swirl a mouthful of oil in your mouth for about 3-5 minutes, this reduces the pain and restores the teeth.
10. Pain: dab some clove oil on to a piece of cotton and apply this on your aching tooth, this helps reduce the pain. There are other ways of taking care of toothache – and we have dealt with the methods of pain relief elsewhere.
By taking care of your dental hygiene –
11. Oral hygiene: as long as you follow the correct principles of brushing regularly, flossing daily and taking general care of your mouth, you are going to have a healthy mouth.
12. Regular checkups with dentist: the other part of preventing tooth decay is to take an appointment with the dentist every once in a while and getting him to check the status of your teeth.
As long as you follow good oral care and take these methods to heart, you can cure tooth decay…sometimes even preventing it from getting bad enough to need a tooth extraction. So always pay attention to your mouth and your oral health will be its best!