What Causes Cavities to Develop In Your Gumline?
August 28, 2012 Tooth Decay
One of the most painful areas of your mouth to develop a cavity is right along the gumline. It often surprises people when they have cavities at their gumline. Cavities can develop in this area very quickly. Often they will develop when there is a lot of plaque along the gumline. Plaque itself doesn’t cause cavities, but in the presence of sugars and acids, it helps to demineralize your teeth faster. Once your teeth are completely demineralized, it makes it easy for structural cavities to form and become infected.
What Causes Gumline Cavities to Develop?
If you look at the structure of the tooth, the enamel is really thick near the top of the tooth. When it comes to the sides of the tooth, the enamel gets much thinner. A very thin layer of enamel, called the cementum, starts at the gumline, and goes all the way around the root of the tooth. The reason why you often develop gumline cavities is because if your gumline is receding, you have very little protection.
When the enamel is really thin, it is very easy for cavities to develop. Cavities can also become very painful as soon as they develop, because they can easily attack and infect part of the tooth that is normally protected by your enamel.
If your gums become infected, bacteria that cause the infection can also cause cavities to develop very quickly. It is a good idea to pull with oil on a regular basis, to keep your gums from getting infected. Oil pulling will also keep you from developing gumline cavities
Most dentists will tell you that brushing and flossing on a regular basis will help prevent gumline cavities. If you are going to floss, make sure you use tape instead of string. Tape is less likely to damage your sensitive gumline and cause inflammation and infections. Oil pulling is nice because it helps to get rid of the infections without being abrasive on your gums.
You can also fight gumline cavities, by using a Miswak stick. As you chew on this stick, it strengthens your roots in your gums. You can also use it to clean plaque off of the bottom edges of your teeth. If you can keep plaque from developing in this area, you can keep your teeth from demineralizing, and in turn, you can help prevent cavities from forming.
When you brush your teeth, make sure that you brush low enough that you get rid of the plaque that is on the gumline. Remember that small cavities can cure themselves naturally. You can get a filling for gumline cavities, but if you do, it does permanent damage to your teeth.
Before I learned how to prevent cavities naturally, I got a filling for a gumline cavity. After about 10 years, the filling came out. I can still use a miswak to fight off infection, but it would’ve been a lot easier for my teeth to heal naturally, if I had never gotten a filling in the first place.