Is there an effective remedy or cure for tooth decay?

Despite the widespread prevalence of caries and well-established methods for its treatment, a remedy for caries that would help treat it with an already existing and far-reaching pathological process has not yet been created. The reason for this is the irreversibility of the deep destruction of tooth enamel and dentin: if they were badly damaged, the body is no longer able to restore them on its own.

Moreover, in the future, tooth tissues under existing injuries will constantly deteriorate, and their destruction rate will be determined by a combination of many unfavorable factors: the nature of the diet, the quantity and quality of oral hygiene procedures, the general condition of the body, heredity, and others.

As a result, the treatment of caries in most cases is carried out by operational methods: opening the enamel, removing the dentin damaged by caries, and installing a seal. In severe cases, it is necessary to remove the pulp (nerves), fill the canals, etc.

The only stage at which the disease can be effectively cured without opening a tooth using certain anti-caries remedies is the enamel stain stage (it may be white or even already pigmented in brown). During this period, the carious cavity in it has not yet formed, and with proper treatment the pathological process itself stops, and the initial damage to the mineral structure of the enamel can be restored.

But the main thing: only a doctor can carry out all these procedures. Even with a cure for caries on hand, it is impossible to prepare a tooth for its application and use auxiliary preparations without special equipment. For example, in general terms, remineralizing therapy for the restoration of enamel during caries at the stage of the chalk spot is as follows:

1. Tooth with detected initial caries at the stage of the stain, it is first thoroughly cleaned by mechanical methods from pellicles and plaque.
2. Then the damage site is treated with concentrated acid, for example, 40% citric acid. This is not a remedy for caries, but just a way to further cleanse and prepare the surface for further processing.
3. After that, the caries proper itself is already applied to the carious spot - various remineralizing preparations, for example, 10% calcium gluconate or calcium hydrochloride, solutions of mineral phosphates, fluorine-containing salts. Special ready-made preparations, such as Remodent, can also be used. Usually, the agents are applied by the application method, but sometimes electrophoresis is used.

Applications are repeated for several days (usually 10-20 procedures are enough). In the case of initial caries in the stage of a white spot with a high probability, the enamel is almost completely restored.

If a through hole has already formed in the enamel, and caries has spread to the internal structures of the tooth, treatment will require the removal of damaged areas with a drill.

All other caries remedies, including those that can be used at home, are intended primarily for the prevention of disease and the protection of teeth from damage. There are many professional preventive measures against caries, which, when used correctly, reliably prevent the onset of the disease.

 

Fluoride and calcium preparations in the fight against tooth decay

When choosing what helps with tooth decay, first of all, you should pay attention to funds based on fluoride or calcium.Combining both types of agents, in some cases a more pronounced result can be obtained than when they are used separately (tooth enamel consists mainly of the mineral compound fluorapatite, which contains calcium, phosphorus and fluorine in its crystal lattice).

Of the fluorine and calcium-containing substances, the following can be attributed to a kind of “medicine” for caries:

• Sodium fluoride, which in the form of a dilute aqueous solution is applied to the teeth every few days. Fluorine ions, embedded in the crystal lattice of tooth enamel, make it more resistant to organic acids.
• Fluoride is a similar action. It is applied 1-2 times a week to the teeth.
• High fluoride salt. It can be added to food instead of ordinary salt, as well as rinsing your mouth with water and adding it several times a day.
• Fluorinated water.
• Calcium preparations: gluconate, glycerophosphate, lactate, which are used in tablet form.
• Dental floss containing fluoride. When brushing your teeth with them, the applied fluoride remains on the enamel and is included in its components.
• Fitin, a tool with a high content of calcium and phosphorus.
• Fluoride-containing caries tablets that can be taken as directed by your dentist.

These funds can be used independently at home as directed by a doctor. Water with a high fluoride content and fluorinated salt can be included in the diet on your own, but you should not abuse it: an excess of fluoride in the body can also be harmful.

Dentists for caries prevention professional tools may be used. These include, for example, the following:

• Paper and paraffin discs containing fluorine compounds. The dentist puts such a disk on the tip of the drill instead of boron and at low speed processes the tooth with it. Fluorine remains on the enamel.
• Special remineralizing solutions with a high concentration of fluorine and calcium compounds (hundreds of times higher than their content in human saliva).

All these tools provide an easy and quick application of the active ingredients on the tooth. But they also have a drawback: fluorine and calcium are quickly washed off the tooth when used, and therefore it is often necessary to use these drugs. Therefore, for more reliable prevention, dentists also use special varnishes and sealants.

 

Caries Varnishes and Gels

Caries varnishes are relatively new remedies that dentists use with some caution. The most famous such varnish today is the German ICON. It is colorless and after cleaning the caries stain is applied directly to the enamel. The varnish immediately fills all the micro cavities on the enamel, after which it is shone through with a lamp and it hardens, forming a reliable barrier for cariogenic agents on the tooth surface.

Important:

Apply varnish from caries is advisable only at the stage of the stain. With the defeat of dentin, they will no longer give an effect.

The main disadvantage of such a tool is its high cost. The cost of one serving of ICON in the treatment of caries today is about 4000-5000 rubles, but it can be difficult for a doctor to explain to the patient what the money is spent for: there are no injuries on the tooth, and purely visually the money is paid for nothing.

On a note

Due to the transparency of the varnishes, the patient must always have his card with him: the dentist will be able to determine the number of varnishes applied only by records. This to some extent binds the patient to one clinic.

But the gels from tooth decay are means that are quite suitable for self-prevention. They are applied to the teeth after brushing with regular toothpaste. Examples of such gels are:

• Blend-a-med;
• Fluodent;
• Elmex (Elmex);
• ROCS Medical Minerals (Rox Medical Minerals);
• Fluocal.

Caries gels can be bought and used independently.With fair and proper use, they will significantly reduce the risk of tooth damage. Such a caries remedy can be bought at almost any pharmacy.

 

Sealants as tooth protection

Sealants from caries on the principle of their action resemble varnishes, but are intended for the treatment of fissures of perfectly healthy teeth. By their nature, they are composite resins which, when applied to teeth, harden when exposed to air or special radiation.

Sealants treat the places of the most probable development of caries: fissures, joints of fillings with enamel, places to which braces are attached. The sealants Fissurit, Helioseal, Pit Fissure Sealant are very famous. These funds are applied for a certain period during which they are gradually erased and removed from the surface of the tooth in a natural way.

 

What toothpastes should I use to protect my teeth from caries?

As effective caries protection toothpastes that contain fluoride are well suited (unless fluorine compounds are contraindicated). But even a simple paste from just using it and cleaning your teeth from food debris helps prevent tooth decay. Pastes with active ingredients strengthen the enamel and reduce the risk of tooth damage to an even greater extent.

It is not necessary to buy necessarily expensive toothpastes, it is only important to pay attention to its basic composition and the presence of auxiliary components. But, as practice shows, it is the pasti PresiDENT, Silca, Blend-a-Med, Splat, Colgate that have the most balanced composition.

 

Caries Chewing Gums: Are They Effective?

Promoted chewing gums as a reliable remedy for caries are not suitable. However, they to some extent contribute to the removal of food particles from the cracks between the teeth after eating. They do not have a pronounced strengthening effect on tooth enamel, and with excessive enthusiasm for chewing gum they even contribute to abrasion and wear of teeth.

Xylitol, which many consumers learned only from advertising Orbit and Dirol, is a simple sugar substitute neutral for tooth enamel. It does not bring pronounced benefits to teeth, nor does it harm, and in chewing gum its task is to make the taste pleasant and not be a possible substrate for the growth of cariogenic microorganisms, such as, for example, sucrose.

From the practice of the dentist

There are different opinions on the benefits of xylitol for teeth. For example, I had a teacher in pediatric dentistry: professor, doctor of sciences. Over the course of 5 years of training, she told us the phrase: “Xylitol is a contraceptive for Streptococcus mutans” (this is her personal aphorism) ... This doctor can be trusted since she was nearly removed in dashing years because she refused to sign documents on fluoridation of water in favor of money laundering on this, has banned some advertised pastes, etc. In general, an independent expert and an iron grandmother of Soviet tempering. Her monograph, including with an article on the positive properties of chewing gum with xylitol, is still in my possession. The only thing is the likelihood of fakes of gum, but this is another legal case.

In general, chewing gums can be used immediately after a meal or at crucial moments to freshen your breath. But counting on them as effective remedies for tooth decay is not worth it.

Chewing gum culture is also important. In particular, it is recommended to use chewing gum with xylitol after eating only for 10-15 minutes. This increases salivation, providing leaching of food residues from the enamel surface, improves mineralization and the return of fluorine and calcium back to enamel (since saliva is, in simple terms, “liquid enamel”). Longer use is not recommended due to overstrain of the masticatory muscles, etc.

It is forbidden to use an elastic band between meals, as this leads to a malfunction in the digestive tract: it is even possible to develop gastritis against the background of constant chewing in the absence of food in the stomach.

 

Folk remedies that definitely will not help

But the majority of folk recipes, which are actively defended by village healers and which patients who are afraid of drills so hope for, do not work against tooth decay. Such folk remedies for caries include, for example, the following:

• Treatment of caries with soda is hardly an effective measure. The folk prerequisites for this are as follows: the main cause of caries is damage to tooth enamel by acids. It would seem that soda neutralizes acids, so when ingested it should make alkaline saliva. It's a delusion. The composition of saliva does not change when soda is used, and when rinsing the mouth with soda, although it increases the pH in the oral cavity, the effect of this is very short-lived. Therefore, caries soda practically does not help. But, by the way, it will not bring much harm.
• Propolis and caries from caries are also useless. Moreover, these substances are a nutrient medium for cariogenic bacteria. Their regular presence in the oral cavity increases the risk of tooth decay. At the same time, both zabrus and propolis from caries are equally ineffective.
• Caries honey is even less effective and to some extent even more dangerous. It contains easily digestible carbohydrates (glucose, fructose), which only increase the activity of bacteria in the mouth. The postulate that caries is afraid of honey is a frank anti-scientific nonsense, promoted to the masses by especially enterprising beekeepers, as well as caries treatment propolis or tuberculosis - tincture of wax moth.
• Horsetail, vodka and milk powder are the same useless anti-caries remedies.

Of the really useful folk remedies against caries, you can call natural fresh milk, which, when used regularly, helps to supply the body as a whole, and teeth in particular, with calcium.

 

Vaccination against caries: reality or science fiction?

The caries vaccine does not exist today. In 2011, Chinese scientists said they had developed a vaccine against cariogenic bacteria in the oral cavity. However, after this there is no news from the Middle Kingdom.

In addition, the very information about such a caries vaccine raises many questions. For example, it is unclear what exactly will contain antibodies designed to fight bacteria. Indeed, in other cases, the cells of the immune system trained by the vaccine fight with infectious agents in the blood or lymph. And in the oral cavity they simply will not be able to reach their targets in sufficient quantities (although immunoglobulins are contained in saliva). Therefore, the vaccine against caries is still the lot of science fiction.

But the development of new remedies for caries continues. For example, Americans are working on a gel that would block the mechanism of acid production by bacteria in the oral cavity, the French are even trying to create a hormonal drug that would trigger the enamel buildup mechanism. But all these developments so far do not go beyond the walls of university laboratories, and only experimental rodents are "happy" with them. Therefore, ordinary citizens have to rely on the dentist’s office and careful attention to their teeth for protection against caries.

 

An interesting video: can caries be cured without going to the doctor?

 

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