5 Symptoms Of Tooth Cavities

If you visit your dentist regularly, you shouldn’t have to worry about cavity symptoms.  When they’re small, cavities don’t cause many toothaches or other issues, plus they’re easier to drill and fill.  With proper care and attention, you might never experience an aching tooth in your life.

However, not everyone goes to the dentist as often as they should, and not everyone brushes and flosses every day.  Once a cavity gets big enough, it’ll start making itself known with the following symptoms.

1. Toothache Or Persistent Pain

This is the classic symptom of a bad cavity, and it’s the one you can’t really ignore even if you wanted to.  The pain can feel like it’s coming from inside the tooth or from beneath the gums, it can feel sharp or it can feel dull and throbbing, but no matter what it feels like a toothache is your body’s way of warning you that something needs to happen right away.

2. Pain While Eating

Even if a toothache doesn’t stick around constantly, it can hit you every time you bite down or chew your food.  The pressure food puts on your cavity presses down on the nerve underneath, and that’s why you feel pain.

3. Sensitive Teeth

An exposed nerve can also react to other sensations besides pressure.  If one tooth in your mouth reacts with pain when you drink hot or cold liquids, that’s a sign that a cavity has appeared there.  Even a sudden change in air pressure can be enough to make your tooth throb.

4. Bleeding And Swelling Gums

If a cavity sits along the gum line, it can irritate the tissue or even spread an infection.  Cavities are a leading cause of gingivitis, and untreated gingivitis can develop into a more serious condition called periodontitis.  If you always taste blood in your mouth or you always bleed when you brush your teeth, that can indicate a cavity or an infection.

5. Bad Breath And Bad Tastes

A cavity is a kind of bacterial infection, and infections always taste bad.  They smell bad, too.  If your breath smells rotten except when you cover it up with mint or if you always have a bitter taste in your mouth except when you’re eating, these are signs that you have a cavity.

Once you know you have a cavity, you should visit a dentist right away to get it identified and filled.  Cavities only become worse over time, and if you don’t take care of them early they can lead to root canals or even tooth extractions.