The early stage
of dental caries occurs in the enamel
of a tooth. Early Dental Caries is usually painless
and the tooth surface seems intact when examined
by the naked eye. Caries at the adjacent tooth
surfaces are even more difficult to be detected
and they often need to be confirmed by X-ray.
Treatment:
The
early caries lesions can be repaired by highly
concentrated topical fluoride
applied by dentist.
Dental caries spreads into dentine
A cavity appears
on the tooth and pain is felt when eating.
Treatment:
A filling can be placed if the caries lesion is relatively small and the structure of the tooth remains strong.
A crown has to be made when caries lesion is wide-spread and the remaining tooth structure is weak.
Dental caries spreads into pulp
At this stage, the caries lesion is very obvious and causes severe pain. The pulp tissues are infected by the bacteria and may become necrotic. The bacteria may even spread from the pulp to the surrounding periodontal tissues via the apex of the tooth, leading to the formation of abscess.
