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What Does A Cavity Look Like?

What Does A Cavity Look Like?

Ever wonder what a cavity really looks like in your tooth? Did you know down in the grooves of the biting surface of the tooth is the number one most common place to get tooth decay? We have an example to share and even how it can look small on the surface, but in reality is much bigger.

Identifying a Cavity

Tooth with cavity

Here is a photo of what the tooth looked like before anything was done. Do you see the cavity? We’ve marked it with the red arrow. No we want you to try and picture in your head how big you think the cavity is from this picture.

Let’s see if you are right…

Cavity Removal

Cavity larger than it looks

It‘s a lot bigger than it originally looked! This picture shows what the cavity looked like after starting the process of removing the decay. You can see the large hole that the tooth decay has caused in the enamel, as well as the large shadow that spreads out into the tooth. All of this discolored area is soft and filled with bacteria!!!

Now we’ll show what the tooth looks like once the cavity is fully removed.

Cavity fully removed

This is what the area looks like after fully removing the cavity. Did you know that the inside (the dentin) of a normal healthy tooth is a light yellow color!? This tooth is now ready to have a white bonded filling put back to restore where the cavity was.

Questions? Contact Us.

If you have a question about a cavity, we are happy to schedule a consultation with one of our doctors. You can learn more about the technology we offer by clicking here. We’ll help you take care of any pain you may be experiencing!