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Tooth decay & gum disease

Caries dentium et periodontitis · Zubní kaz a onemocnění dásní

What it is

Bacterial acid dissolves enamel; the same bacteria inflame gums and loosen teeth.

Symptoms & signs

  • Toothache
  • sensitivity to hot, cold and sweet
  • bleeding gums
  • bad breath
  • loose teeth
  • abscess with facial swelling

🚩 Get help if…

  • call 112 / 911 now Swelling spreading to the eye, neck or floor of the mouth
  • call 112 / 911 now Trouble swallowing, breathing or opening the mouth
  • see a doctor soon Toothache with fever or a swollen face
  • see a doctor soon Pus, a gum boil or pain that keeps you awake

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • Fillings trials support
  • Root canal trials support
  • Extraction when the tooth cannot be saved trials support
  • Scaling and root planing for gum disease trials support
  • Antibiotics only for a spreading abscess — they do not treat the tooth mixed evidence
  • Fluoride varnish, painted on the surface trials support

Natural & lifestyle

  • Brushing with fluoride paste — about a quarter fewer cavities in trials; it acts on the surface, so spit it out and swallow none trials support
  • Interdental brushes trials support
  • Fewer sugar occasions, which matters more than the amount trials support
  • Xylitol gum mixed evidence
  • Check-ups — good for finding decay, though six-monthly intervals beat longer ones by little in trials mixed evidence

Emerging & experimental

  • Silver diamine fluoride arrest
  • caries vaccines
  • regenerative pulp therapy

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste — trials comparable to fluoride mixed evidence
  • Oil pulling — small trials reduce plaque; no proven effect on decay mixed evidence
  • Fluoride-free 'remineralising' tooth soaps — no evidence anecdotal / traditional

ICD codes