When it comes to your dental health, the most common problem you’ll face is probably tooth decay. Even though most people have at least one filling in their teeth, many people do not know much about cavities and dental fillings.
Call our Pompano Beach, FL dental office today at 954-590-0538 and schedule your next appointment for dental cleanings and dental exams. Both are needed to help fight cavities and avoid needing too many fillings. Dr. Slootsky and Dr. Baez are both highly trained and can help you keep your smile healthy and bright.
Why Your Teeth Get Cavities
Where do cavities come from anyway? Most people have a vague idea that sugar is to blame, but that’s only part of it.
You have harmful bacteria in your mouth. Don’t worry, everybody does! They feed on miniscule particles of food and drink that get trapped in your mouth. As they eat and grow, they produce an acid that corrodes the enamel on your teeth. These corroded spots are called cavities or tooth decay.
Then where does sugar come in? Those harmful bacteria go crazy for the stuff. Since some sugar is left behind every time you eat, that means you’re giving bacteria what they want. Sugary treats and drinks let bacteria thrive, which increases the tooth decay on your enamel.
3 Tips For Avoiding Cavities
What can you do to avoid tooth decay besides never eat sugar again? Here are the three biggest tips for fighting cavities.

  1. Brush and floss regularly: Cleaning your teeth with brushing and flossing takes away the tiny particles of food needed by those bacteria. Remove the food, and you limit how much acid they produce.
  2. Limit your sugar and carbs: Sugar is bad, but carbohydrates are very similar to sugar. So similar that harmful bacteria love carbs almost as much. Be careful with what you eat.
  3. Come to our Pompano Beach, FL dental office for dental cleaning and dental exams. Even with cleaning your teeth at home, you still need professional dental cleanings. Only a trained dental team can get rid of plaque, tartar, and the bacteria that build up there.

Regular dental exams won’t prevent cavities, but they will spot them while they are still small and more easily repaired.
Little-Known Facts About Cavities
Here are some facts about cavities and fillings that you should know.
You do not have to get silvery metal fillings anymore.
In the past, your only choice for a dental filling was metal amalgam. These metal fillings did their job, and they can still be used today. However, they certainly do not look normal in your smile.
Call us today at 954-590-0538, and you can avoid those unsightly metal fillings. Instead, Dr. Slootsky and Dr. Baez are trained to use tooth-colored resin fillings and e.max porcelain fillings. Both work just as well as metal fillings, but they blend in with the color of your teeth.
Cavities keep growing unless it’s treated.
One of the problems with cavities is that you can have them without realizing it. There are no nerve endings in your enamel, so that acid can keep corroding without you feeling a thing. That means your cavities will grow worse until you get it treated.
That’s why you need to call our Pompano Beach, FL dental office today and schedule your next dental exam. Our dentist have the expertise to find cavities with a visual exam or digital X-rays. You can’t get a cavity treated until you know it’s there.
If a cavity grows too deep, you will need a root canal to save the tooth.
Because cavities keep growing until treated, yours can break through the enamel to the dental pulp inside. This is where all the blood vessels and nerves are found for that tooth. Once the bacteria infect your dental pulp, not only is it painful, it starts to make your enamel brittle. Only a root canal can save the tooth at this point.
By calling Restorative & Implant Dentistry today and scheduling a dental exam, you can help make sure you don’t have this problem in the future.  
If a cavity grows too big, you will need a dental crown to protect the tooth.
Instead of growing deep, the cavity could grow wide. Eventually, your tooth will be in danger of breaking apart because there’s not enough healthy enamel left. At this point, you will need a dental crown instead of a filling. The dental crown will protect the tooth and hold it together.
Call Restorative & Implant Dentistry today at 954-590-0538 and schedule your next dental cleaning and dental exam. Cavities are a serious problem, but if they are caught early enough, you will only need a simple, tooth-colored filling.