Can Food Debris Hide a Tooth Cavity on X-Rays?
Ask Dr.A
dradental.com
The answers given by Dr.A are intended as non-professional advice, for entertainment only if you will. Please do consult with your dentist of record or your physician before making any decision regarding your dental or medical health.
Q. I have seen 2 dentists in the past 3 months who have both assured me that my teeth are in good condition and that I have no cavities. Prior to these visits, I had last seen a dentist more than a decade ago. I feel certain that I have at least 1 cavity. My certainty stems from the following:
Last year, while eating I suddenly heard and felt a crunch in my mouth. Upon inspection I found that it was a piece of silver filling, a finding corroborated by a jagged edge on one of my left molars that could be felt with my tongue. Secondly, when sucking on the tooth, a decidedly unpleasant taste appears, despite the fact that I floss regularly.
So my question is:
Is it possible for food debris to become so compacted in a cavity that is not attended to, that the cavity cannot be detected on x-rays?
Dr.A - If your observations, mainly the broken piece of amalgam and the jagged tooth filling, are correct then I would have to assume you have a broken filling and that it needs replacing. Now, for two dentists to say otherwise, I would also have to assume that there's nothing of significance that can be detected. As you can guess, I cannot give you a solid answer as to what is really going on with your tooth with the limited information you have given me.
Is it possible for food to block out a cavity on the x-ray? No. When reading x-rays there are two types of structures, those that show up white (radio-opague) and those that show up black or not at all (radio-lucent). Anything hard or mineralized, such as bone, tooth enamel, etc will show up as a varying degree of white depending on how dense the structure is. Anything soft, mushy, or empy space will show up black as x-ray beams pass through unobstructed.
So as you can imagine, food debris that is compacted in a hollow cavity cannot show up on the x-ray, therefore, the cavity will still show as a black hole or hollow, and the dentist should be able to detect it.
Sorry, but it is difficult to analyze your case without seeing the x-ray and clinically observing the tooth. What you should do is visit your dentist (or both dentists) again and complain of the said symptoms; the ragged edge and foul taste. Make sure you make the appointment for that reason only so that the dentist's full attention is on that one problem.
The answers given by Dr.A are intended as non-professional advice, for entertainment only if you will. Please do consult with your dentist of record or your physician before making any decision regarding your dental or medical health.
More Ask Dr.A
______________
dradental.com
The answers given by Dr.A are intended as non-professional advice, for entertainment only if you will. Please do consult with your dentist of record or your physician before making any decision regarding your dental or medical health.
Q. I have seen 2 dentists in the past 3 months who have both assured me that my teeth are in good condition and that I have no cavities. Prior to these visits, I had last seen a dentist more than a decade ago. I feel certain that I have at least 1 cavity. My certainty stems from the following:
Last year, while eating I suddenly heard and felt a crunch in my mouth. Upon inspection I found that it was a piece of silver filling, a finding corroborated by a jagged edge on one of my left molars that could be felt with my tongue. Secondly, when sucking on the tooth, a decidedly unpleasant taste appears, despite the fact that I floss regularly.
So my question is:
Is it possible for food debris to become so compacted in a cavity that is not attended to, that the cavity cannot be detected on x-rays?
Dr.A - If your observations, mainly the broken piece of amalgam and the jagged tooth filling, are correct then I would have to assume you have a broken filling and that it needs replacing. Now, for two dentists to say otherwise, I would also have to assume that there's nothing of significance that can be detected. As you can guess, I cannot give you a solid answer as to what is really going on with your tooth with the limited information you have given me.
Is it possible for food to block out a cavity on the x-ray? No. When reading x-rays there are two types of structures, those that show up white (radio-opague) and those that show up black or not at all (radio-lucent). Anything hard or mineralized, such as bone, tooth enamel, etc will show up as a varying degree of white depending on how dense the structure is. Anything soft, mushy, or empy space will show up black as x-ray beams pass through unobstructed.
So as you can imagine, food debris that is compacted in a hollow cavity cannot show up on the x-ray, therefore, the cavity will still show as a black hole or hollow, and the dentist should be able to detect it.
Sorry, but it is difficult to analyze your case without seeing the x-ray and clinically observing the tooth. What you should do is visit your dentist (or both dentists) again and complain of the said symptoms; the ragged edge and foul taste. Make sure you make the appointment for that reason only so that the dentist's full attention is on that one problem.
The answers given by Dr.A are intended as non-professional advice, for entertainment only if you will. Please do consult with your dentist of record or your physician before making any decision regarding your dental or medical health.
More Ask Dr.A
______________
posted by Dr.A at
11:21 AM
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