Having a rotten tooth can be extremely painful and dangerous to your overall dental health. A rotten tooth, also known as tooth decay, is caused by bacteria that eats away at the enamel and dentin of the tooth. This erosion causes holes to form in the tooth, which can lead to infection and abscess if left untreated. The process of tooth decay happens slowly over time, so it’s important to take action as soon as you notice any signs of rot in order to prevent further damage. Here are some tips on how to stop tooth rot and protect your teeth.
See a Dentist
The first and most important step is to schedule an appointment with your dentist as soon as possible if you suspect a rotten tooth. Dentists have the tools, experience, and expertise to properly diagnose and treat any tooth decay. They can take x-rays to see how deep the rot goes and determine if the tooth can be saved through filling or crown, or if extraction is necessary. Trying to treat a rotten tooth on your own without professional help can often make the problem worse.
Practice Good Oral Hygiene
Preventing tooth decay starts with good daily oral hygiene habits. Here are some tips:
- Brush teeth twice a day for 2 minutes with a soft bristled fluoride toothpaste.
- Floss at least once a day to remove plaque from between teeth.
- Use an antiseptic mouthwash to kill bacteria.
- Avoid sugary foods and drinks that can feed the bacteria and lead to more cavities.
- Drink plenty of water to produce more saliva, which helps neutralize acid.
- Chew sugar-free gum, which promotes saliva flow.
Practicing thorough oral hygiene minimizes the bacteria that causes tooth decay and keeps your mouth healthier overall.
Get Dental Fillings
If your dentist determines the tooth rot is not too severe, getting a dental filling can help repair damage and prevent further decay. During a filling procedure, the dentist will clean out the decayed material from the tooth and fill the space with composite resin or amalgam material. This restores the tooth structure, functionality, and strength. However, fillings are not a permanent solution and may need to be replaced every several years if the decay continues to spread.
Get a Dental Crown
For more severe cases of tooth rot, a dental crown may be the best option. A crown (or cap) is a tooth-shaped “cap” that is placed over the entire tooth to restore its shape, size, and strength. The dentist will file down the damaged tooth and then place a crown restoration on top that looks and functions like a real tooth. Crowns protect vulnerable teeth from further decay and fracture. While more invasive and expensive than a simple filling, dental crowns prolong the life of damaged teeth and prevent extraction.
Use Fluoride Treatment
Fluoride strengthens enamel and prevents mineral loss in teeth. In addition to using fluoride toothpaste, consider asking your dentist about in-office fluoride treatments, especially if you are prone to tooth decay. These professional-grade fluoride applications help replenish enamel and make it more resistant to acid attacks from oral bacteria. They create a barrier that inhibits the progression of tooth cavities. Fluoride varnish can also be brushed onto at-risk teeth to provide ongoing decay prevention between dental visits.
Improve Your Diet
A nutritious diet low in sugars and acids can go a long way in promoting oral health and preventing tooth rot. Be sure to:
- Eat plenty of crunchy fruits and vegetables like apples, celery, and carrots to help clean teeth.
- Drink lots of water instead of sugary sodas and juices.
- Limit starchy refined carbs like white bread, pasta, rice, and crackers which can get stuck in teeth crevices.
- Avoid sticky candies and sweets like taffy or gummy bears that coat teeth in sugar.
- Drink milk, eat cheese and yogurt to get vitamin D and calcium for enamel strength.
Don’t Smoke
Smoking or chewing tobacco is extremely damaging for oral health. The smoke and chemicals increase plaque levels, irritate gums, and dry out the mouth. This creates an environment ripe for cavities and tooth decay. So if you want to stop a rotten tooth from getting worse, quitting smoking and tobacco products is a key step.
Use Prescription Toothpaste
If over-the-counter toothpaste is not getting the job done for chronic tooth decay issues, your dentist may recommend a prescription-strength fluoride toothpaste. Brands like PreviDent and Duraphat contain much higher concentrations of fluoride (almost 6 times more) than typical toothpastes. These ultra powerful formulas provide maximum protection against tooth cavities and rot for those at high risk.
Get Dental Sealants
Dental sealants provide a protective plastic coating that fills in the natural grooves and indentations on top of teeth. This smooth surface prevents cavity-causing plaque from getting trapped and starting erosion. Sealants are most often applied to children’s teeth as soon as they come in, but they can also help fortify susceptible adult molars. Just one sealant treatment continues preventing decay for years.
Invest in a Water Flosser
Water flossers like Waterpik use focused streams of water to remove plaque and food debris from between teeth and below the gum line where brushing can’t reach. The water pressure rinses bacteria out of tight spaces, preventing pockets of rot from forming around teeth and under fillings. Water flossing also stimulates gums and improves circulation. Using a water flosser in addition to string floss boosts cleaning power.
Get Antibacterial Rinses
Look for antibacterial mouthwashes containing cetylpyridinium chloride or essential oils like thymol, menthol, and eucalyptol. These powerful germ-killing ingredients help control plaque and reduce your oral bacteria load, which can lower cavity risk. Swishing daily with an antibacterial rinse reduces bacteria colonies and neutralizes destructive acids on teeth vulnerable to rot and decay.
Take Supplements
Certain nutritional supplements can strengthen teeth from the inside out:
- Vitamin D aids calcium absorption for enamel fortification.
- Calcium promotes remineralization and repair of weakened areas.
- Phosphorus is another mineral essential for oral health.
- Vitamin C builds collagen to hold teeth in place.
- Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) acts as an antioxidant against gum disease.
Get Dental Bonding
Dental bonding involves applying a tooth-colored resin material to the tooth surface and shaping it for a cosmetic improvement. Bonding resins can fill in chips or cracks from injured enamel vulnerable to decay. The resin bonds to the natural tooth for a seamless repair that blocks out bacteria and prevents further rotting.
Extract Severely Damaged Teeth
If the tooth decay cannot be controlled and has caused irreversible pulp damage, the only option left may be extraction to prevent spreading infection. Your dentist will pull the problematic rotten tooth and replace it with a dental implant, bridge, or partial denture. Removing hopeless teeth is often necessary to maintain a healthy mouth.
Get Regular Dental Cleanings
See your dentist for professional cleanings every 6 months. These appointments allow your dentist to monitor any concerning areas, remove built-up calculus deposits, and catch early signs of cavities. You also receive a thorough polish that smoothes away plaque sticking spots. Regular cleanings paired with daily brushing and flossing provides full protection from tooth decay.
Use Interdental Cleaners
Floss only cleans the front and back of teeth. To also clean between them, invest in interdental cleaners. Options include:
- Interdental brushes – tiny bristled cones to scrub in crevices
- Proxy brushes – skinny plastic bristled picks
- Dental picks – pointed metal tools for poking food out
- Water irrigation devices – pressurized water jet cleaners
These tools remove hidden gunk and help prevent cavities between the teeth.
Get Bad Fillings Replaced
Over time, dental fillings can weaken and deteriorate, allowing bacteria and rot to start up again underneath. Have your dentist periodically inspect older fillings and replace any that are cracked, damaged, or loose. Catching failing, defective fillings early keeps new decay at bay.
Use Bleaching Products
Whitening toothpastes, strips, and trays help bleach away discoloration on enamel and block cavities. Peroxide whiteners penetrate porous areas and harden the enamel structure. Stronger teeth resist acid and bacterial attacks. Bleaching also disrupts bacterial biofilm formation on teeth. Discuss bleaching options with your dentist.
Avoid Grinding and Clenching
Excessive teeth grinding or clenching puts extreme pressure on teeth that can crack enamel and expose cavities. Wear a custom night guard if you grind your teeth. Relax jaw muscles during the day. Getting stress under control also lessens teeth grinding. Damaged teeth are very prone to rotting.
Get Sensitivity Treated
Sensitive teeth with exposed dentin tubules are at higher risk of decay. Treatments like fluoride varnish, desensitizing toothpaste, or dental sealants can seal up sensitivity channels. Nerve treatments like potassium nitrate calm nerve reactivity. Protecting sensitivity prevents hot/cold triggers that intensify decay damage.
Boost Your Saliva Flow
Saliva neutralizes mouth acids, rinses away food particles, and strengthens enamel. If mouth dryness is an issue, chew sugarless gum, suck on mints, drink more water, use a humidifier, and avoid alcohol/caffeine. See a doctor if medications are the cause. Thick saliva is your best defense against cavities.
Eat Crunchy Raw Veggies
Biting into crunchy fresh fruits and vegetables like carrots, celery, apples, and broccoli helps scrape plaque off teeth. Their crispness also stimulates saliva production. Eat them at the end of a meal to naturally cleanse teeth and counteract acidic foods consumed.
Cut Down on Acidic Drinks
Beverages like soda, energy drinks, coffee, and orange juice contain high amounts of acid that erodes tooth enamel. Cut back on consumption frequency and amount. Never brush right after consuming acidic drinks – this scrubs away weakened enamel. Rinse with water and wait 30 minutes to brush.
Add Xylitol to Your Routine
Xylitol is a natural sugar alcohol sweetener that has been shown to prevent tooth cavities. Unlike sucrose, xylitol does not get metabolized by plaque bacteria. It blocks the bacteria from adhering to teeth and decreases acidity levels in the mouth. Find toothpaste, gum, and mints containing xylitol.
Get Dental Implants
If you have missing teeth, consider dental implants. Unlike bridges or dentures, implants fuse into the jawbone like natural tooth roots. They prevent bone loss and stimulation of teeth shifting. This maintains your bite and stabilizes surrounding teeth prone to decay from misalignment stress.
Use MI Paste Products
MI Paste contains bioavailable calcium and phosphate (CPP-ACP) to naturally strengthen weakened enamel. It replenishes minerals depleted by acid attacks. Brushing with MI Paste or using MI Paste Plus with added fluoride restores enamel and prevents cavities in fragile teeth.
Eat Crunchy Nuts and Seeds
Snacking on nuts, seeds, popcorn and trail mix promotes saliva and scrubs your teeth. Their phytic acid and vitamin E also kill bacteria. Just be sure to rinse with water after eating them, as they are sticky. Some healthy choices are almonds, walnuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds.
Use Probiotic Products
Probiotics balance your oral microbiome by promoting good bacteria strains that compete against bad bacteria. Look for oral probiotic lozenges, chewing gums, toothpastes, and mouth sprays with strains like Lactobacillus paracasei or Streptococcus salivarius K12.
Avoid Constant Snacking
Continually munching provides an endless food source for the bacteria that cause cavities. Restrict eating to main meals and planned snacks only. This gives your mouth a chance to neutralize acids and rebuild depleted minerals between eating times. Don’t let snacking become mindless.
Get Periodontal Treatment
Untreated gum disease and infected pockets around teeth spread bacteria and infection into the tooth roots. See a periodontist for deep cleanings and gum treatments. Removing this bacterial reservoir inhibits cavity development. Healthy gums prevent rot.
Rinse After Sugary Snacks
Whenever you consume sugar or carbs, be sure to rinse your mouth afterwards. Swish water around for 30 seconds or more to wash away clinging sugars and food particles. This prevents acid and bacteria buildup on vulnerable tooth surfaces prone to decay.
Use Toothpaste for Sensitivity
If hot or cold foods trigger tooth nerve twinges, switch to a desensitizing toothpaste like Sensodyne, Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief, or Tom’s of Maine Rapid Relief. The potassium salts numb nerve responses and fill microscopic holes in enamel to insulate teeth from irritants.
Take Antibiotics if Infected
A tooth with an abscess, infection at the root, gum infection, or other dental infection requires prescription antibiotics to kill the bacteria involved. Common antibiotics used are penicillin, clindamycin, cephalexin, or tetracycline. This eliminates active bacterial colonies attacking your teeth.
Get a Night Guard if Grinding
See your dentist for a custom night guard if you grind or clench your teeth in your sleep. This hard plastic mouthpiece protects teeth from the damaging pressure and friction of grinding. Wearing it prevents cracked enamel that exposes teeth to food acids and bacteria.
Conclusion
Tooth decay and rot can start slowly and progressively worsen if ignored. But taking proactive preventive steps and getting prompt treatment at the first sign of problems can stop cavities in their tracks. Good oral hygiene practices, dental care, diet changes, and lifestyle adjustments make a winning combination. Partner with your dentist to maintain healthy, strong teeth for life.