Do You know Tooth Cavity Can Lead To Death? See How

I  was scrolling  through updates on twitter and this  doctor wrote how she  lost a  patient to  tooth  cavity. Then I  decided to  follow the thread  where a colleague of her's shared the dangers ,  remedy for  tooth  cavity.  

According to the dentist ,  tooth  cavity can  lead to  someone's  death if  it's  not  handled properly.

He wrote:

Unfortunately, many  people  have been  lost to  cases like this. 

Tooth cavities  can be very  dangerous  and can kill if  they are  not  treated. I  think  people  should be  educated on it. 

What are  tooth cavities?

Tooth cavities  are also  called DENTAL CARIES. 

Dental Caries is a bacterial  infection that  causes  tooth decay. Usually the  most  common  symptoms are  pain (toothache) and holes  in the  teeth. 

What  causes dental caries?

Dental caries is  usually  caused by  bacteria  present  in the mouth. These  bacteria are  usually  present  in the mouth,  even when the mouth is  healthy. 

They  live there and do  not  cause any harm.

However, if  they are given the opportunity,  these  bacteria can  actually  lead to many  diseases  in the mouth and  one of them is dental caries. 

The  most  common  causes of dental caries are:

- Eating  too much sugar

-Not brushing one’s  teeth regularly 

-Not  cleaning the mouth after eating 

-Using toothpaste  that does not  contain fluoride.

Of all  these, sugar is the  major culprit.

How does caries occur?

When you  eat any  food that  contains sugar, or take a drink  or you  chew sugary gum  and you do  not  clean your mouth after, the  bacteria  in your mouth will  start feeding  on the sugar  that is left behind. 

As they feed  on the sugar,  they also produce acids which weaken the  teeth and  lead to decay of the  teeth. 

This decay is  usually first  noticed as a  hole  in the  tooth or  pain from the  tooth. The  pain does  not come at once,  you will first have  slight  pain, and  over time if  nothing is  done  about it, the  pain  becomes  terrible and unbearable. Usually,  this is  when  people  go to the dentist. 

The  effect of this decay does  not, however,  end at  just  pain and  hole. Since  it is a bacterial  infection, it  keeps spreading  until the  tooth  becomes  completely decayed and this  infection  attacks the  surroundings of the  tooth. 

This  can be  seen as a swelling  in the mouth with pus  coming out of it. 

If the pus does  not  find a  way to  come out though, it  keeps spreading to  other  parts of the  body. 

It can then  lead to  conditions like osteomyelitis of the jaw bone, Ludwig’s angina, necrotizing fasciitis, sepsis  and many  other  conditions  that can  eventually  lead to  death  within  a very  short period.

It's  important to  note that holes  in your TEETH  known as dental cavities, 

If left untreated, can  lead to  death. Though  this doesn't  happen  all the time. But  it can  definitely  cause  a lot of  damage  to your  body  if you  don't take it seriously.

Some of the  effects:

1. Tooth loss: Dental caries will  eat away at your  teeth  until  nothing is left,  resulting in  tooth loss.

This decay  can also  spread to  the next  tooth,  resulting in  more cavities.

2. Gum disease: When the  bacteria have  finished  damaging the  teeth, they do  not stop. They can infect your gums and  cause gum disease. Bleeding gums, abscess  in the gums, and  loss of gum tissue are

 3. Halitosis: Cavities  caused by bacterial  infection  affect  the surrounding  soft tissue,  leading to  bad breath. The stench will  actually ooze  out of your mouth  when you open it.

4. Sepsis: Bacteria from an  infected  tooth can  enter the ...bloodstream and  cause sepsis. Sepsis is a blood  infection  that will  lead to  death if untreated. Asides sepsis, the  infection can  spread to  different  spaces  in the face.

5. Death: If dental caries and its following progressions  are not  treated as needed,  it can ... significantly  impact one's  quality of  life  through  negative  effects on  general health,  eventually  leading to  death.

So yes,  people die from " just  teeth". 

To  reduce your  chances  of having dental caries,  you can  adopt  the following practices:

- Always brush your  teeth  twice daily (morning and night)

- Always  clean your  teeth after taking sugary  food or drinks

-Don’t  go to  bed  without brushing your  teeth at night -Always  clean in  between your  teeth with dental floss after eating.

- Stop chewing sugary gums (there are gums  that do not  contain sugar)

-Change your toothbrush  every  3 months.

- Visit your dentist  every six months for  routine checkups and  immediately  you have any  tooth  pain. If you  learned from this thread, kindly retweet and  follow me for  more  tips on having a  healthy mouth.

Follow this  blog for  more updates