How a Decay Destroys Your Tooth — And How Dentists Fix It 🦷

How does a tooth actually decay, and how does a dentist fix it? We open up a molar in 3D and follow a cavity from its first chalky white spot to the dentist's chair: what caries is, the four things it needs, the Stephan curve, risk and protective factors, the caries balance, G. V. Black's classes and the ICDAS scale, and how a lesion develops. Then prevention, what happens if decay is ignored, and the full treatment: detection tech (bitewings, near-infrared light, laser fluorescence, AI), numbing and rubber dam, how decay is actually cleaned out, selective removal, lasers and other gentler options, bonding a composite filling, and which material to use when. Finally: does it hurt, aftercare, and the complications dentists work to prevent. *Question of the day:* dentists sometimes leave a little softened decay under a filling on purpose, sealed away from the nerve. If it were your tooth, would you accept that, or insist on removing every last bit? Tell us why in the comments! Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:06 How does a tooth decay? 00:19 What is tooth decay? 00:52 What causes it? 01:25 Risk factors 01:50 Protective factors 02:24 Classifying decay 03:15 How decay develops 03:56 Preventing decay 04:29 If decay is left untreated 05:00 Treating decay (technology, cleaning, materials) 07:26 Will it hurt? 08:03 Aftercare 08:26 Complications, and how to avoid them 09:30 Question of the day 09:45 Outro Educational content only, not personal medical advice. Please see your dentist about your own teeth. All animation, illustration and music are original. #ToothDecay #DentalCaries #Fillings #DentalWorks #TheTheoryOfEveryTech #CuriosityEngineered Sources:- About 2 billion people have caries in permanent teeth (514 million children have caries in primary teeth) | WHO, Global Oral Health Status Report (2022) — https://www.who.int/publications/i/it... Untreated decay of permanent teeth is the world's most common health condition; plaque converts free sugars into acid; fluoride toothpaste 1,000-1,500 ppm twice daily is recommended | WHO — https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sh... Caries is a dynamic balance between demineralisation and remineralisation | Featherstone 2004 — https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1... Four key factors: tooth, plaque bacteria, fermentable sugars and time | Keyes/Newbrun model — https://www.dentalcare.com/en-us/ce-c... Stephan curve: plaque pH falls rapidly after sugar; critical pH is ≈5.5 for enamel and ≈6.2 for root dentine | Dentalcare — https://www.dentalcare.com/en-us/ce-c... Major risk factors include frequent sugar, plaque, low fluoride, dry mouth, deep fissures and exposed roots; previous caries is a strong predictor | CAMBRA — https://www.dentistry.ubc.ca/files/20... ICDAS codes 0-6 classify lesions from sound tooth to extensive cavity; G. V. Black's classes I-VI classify cavities by location | Ismail et al. — https://www.researchgate.net/publicat... White spot lesions are subsurface demineralisation beneath an intact surface and may remineralise | ScienceDirect — https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/... Fluoride toothpaste: adults generally 1,350-1,500 ppm; spit, don't rinse. High-risk adults may use 5,000 ppm prescription toothpaste | OHID — https://www.gov.uk/government/publica... Untreated decay can progress to pulpitis, necrosis, abscess and infection spread | RCPCH — https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/work-we-do/st... Non-cavitated lesions can be managed without drilling; resin infiltration can arrest some proximal lesions | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... Near-infrared transillumination can detect proximal caries without ionising radiation | J Dent 2020 — https://www.sciencedirect.com/science... Deep lesions may require selective caries removal to avoid unnecessary pulp exposure | Schwendicke et al. 2016 — https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1... Er lasers may reduce the need for local anaesthesia in children | Cochrane 2016 — https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/... 38% silver diamine fluoride can arrest cavitated lesions but causes permanent black staining | AAPD — https://www.aapd.org/media/Policies_G... Dental amalgam is restricted/banned in the EU from 1 January 2025 except where strictly necessary | Council of EU — https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/pr...