Can decayed teeth be saved?

[Cheekystar]

Can decayed teeth be reversed/saved without fillings/extraction? If so, how? My boyfriend has a tooth that has chipped slightly due to decay, but he's got a great fear of the dentists and refuses to go. He's been taking care of his teeth extra carefully since noticing the damage, and isn't in any pain.

[ermintrude35]

...please please please urge him to go now.... I broke half a tooth last year and because it didn't really hurt I ignored it...then the filling came out...then some more of the tooth came away...then I had terrible abcesses and constant pain..... it took me a further 3 months to find an n.h.s dentist, and a further 6 weeks for an apointment to extract it... because it had crumbled so much it took her over an hour to extract it....she was fantastic, no pain atall....I was just slightly shell shocked afterwards... you could try and find a sympathetic dentist who specializes in nervous patients.....( I used to work for such a dentist who ran a private practise but did take referals from nhs dentists for nervous patients)

...mind you if it is only chipped it could be repaired if the decay hasn't spread too much, I personally would rather have it removed..."once the rot sets in " as they say....

...good luck and tell him to take his mp3 player along, as often it's the sounds of the dentist's tools that are off putting....

[keirah]

HEYA i petrified of the dentist since i had a very bad exp at the royal london NOBODY GO THERE PLZZZZZZZZZZ

i have a decayed tooth which ihad fantastic root canal abt 5/6 yrs ago and whenever ive been to the dentist they wont go near it as its had such a good root canal.

has your partner got any other bad teeth or pain??

a mouthwash to try would be corsodyl

good luck my advice would be to be knocked out although last time i wasnt allowed :(

[keirah]

sayig thati have a decayed wisdom which ive put off 4 8 months hate dentists

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

lol

[Catso]

Get him to go and get it fixed. It isn't going to get better, heal itself, it's only going to get worse. They can do some amazing things to save teeth now.

[MrXLA]

In response to Keirah,
I have to say how remarkable, the Royal London is a fine establishment (I'm not connected to it in any way) but clearly in your oppinion due to your one bad experience the entire organisation and every member of staff that works there must be dreadful.
Or it could be that humans work there, and from time to time even the most highly trained specimens of this species has been known to make a mistake.
Mistakes happen they are an unfortunate part of life, get over it!!!!