I'm in a bad spot with a cavity, what can I do?

[Nicholas Katz]

Hello everyone, I am a 17 year old kid fresh out of high school preparing for college, and I have a cavity. This cavity is on one of my half emerged wisdom teeth, and my dentist has been suggesting I get them pulled for a few months now. The wisdom teeth were not any sort of urgent issue until now, and I have no clue what to do. Sure I could get the cavity filled but that is hundreds of dollars wasted on something I will just get pulled out within the next year. The issue is that I play trombone, sing, and play a multitude of other instruments, and during the school year I was unable to get them pulled due to the amount of time I had to spend playing my instrument every day for rehearsals, performances, and preparing for my future as a musician. I have no time this summer to get them pulled, as the next week I will be visiting family a province away, and as soon as I return I have college prep music courses that I have already paid for, other ensemble commitments and freelance gigs I cannot drop that take up the rest of august, and in September I start college studying my Bachelors of Jazz. I was wondering what you all believe would be the best course of action for me, and perhaps answer some questions I have.

1) How long can I last with this cavity in my mouth before it becomes a major issue? (how long approximately before the initial pain sets in, before I would be at risk for an infection, need a root canal, etc.)
2) How much will brushing more than twice a day help slow the progress of the cavity?
3) How much does using toothpaste help vs dry brushing if I brush more than twice a day?
4) How long is the recovery period for having all 4 wisdom teeth pulled?
5) Is there any way that I could accelerate this recovery? I can't spend too much time without practicing my instruments!

I would greatly appreciate any insight, I am quite concerned over keeping my teeth as healthy as possible!

 

[JJ_8613]

Hi.

I've had a lot of cavities in my life. My dentists have always recommended getting them filled ASAP. The way it's been explained to me is that it's an active problem and without treatment will continue to get worse. Without treatment the cavity will spread on the tooth and get deeper.

The timing is hard to say, but I'm guessing it happens fairly fast as the dentist always wants to treat it right away. It may depend on your oral hygiene and your immune system. I would think that if you brush, floss and use mouthwash regularly that this would slow down the progression, but I don't know for sure. I do know that our mouths have a lot of bacteria in them, so the cleaner we keep our mouths the healthier the teeth are.

I don't know if I'd brush more than twice a day, three times at the most. I've heard that brushing too often and too hard can cause other problems.

I'm not familiar with dry brushing. I've always used toothpaste.

I think the recovery period from having wisdom teeth out is relatively quick. I had 8 teeth extracted at once including all four wisdom teeth and I recovered in two weeks. Again this may vary on the individual person.

I'm not aware of a way to accelerate recovery. Is it possible for you to just get the problem tooth extracted now and the others later? Maybe that'll help your recovery.

Good luck with everything. Please keep us posted.

JJ