Last Updated on November 8, 2022 by Shabnam Sengupta
A dental cavity or caries is a permanently damaged area on the hard surface of the teeth. This damage over time causes a hole in the tooth due to tooth decay. The hole forms when acid in the mouth erodes the outer layer of the tooth, enamel. It is caused by a combination of factors, such as improper oral hygiene maintenance, frequent snacking, decreased immunity, etc. A dental cavity can happen at any age, although it is more common in children due to the overconsumption of sugary or sticky food and drinks and improper brushing.
How can dental caries be detected?
If the cavity is small, except for a small pit or black discolouration on the tooth surface, it doesn’t show any symptoms and therefore is not possible to detect on your own.
If a dental cavity has progressed, it can give some symptoms, such as toothache (the pain can be acute or chronic, dull or sharp and can intensify, especially during brushing or while consuming hot or cold food and drinks), discolouration of the enamel or dark spots that are visibly prominent, tooth sensitivity, especially in response to hot or cold stimuli, and most importantly, a hole in the tooth or a crack that is present on the groves or anywhere on the tooth surface. Some of the rare symptoms are bad breath, swelling or bleeding in the gums.
To confirm if the discolouration is a cavity, you need to visit a dentist who can determine the problem. After looking at the clinical features and discussing the symptoms with the patient, the dentist will use a probe to locate the spots that are weakened by decay. Lastly, to see the extent of caries or to look for root caries, they do an X-ray. Under an X-ray, a cavity would show up as a dark area.
Also, there can be different types of cavities. Some of them are smooth surface, pit and fissure and root caries.
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