Worried about acid holes in my teeth

[steverothery]

Hi there. I am a healthy atheltic 24yo male. I have never had a filing in my life, and i have visited the dentist every 6 months since birth - every single time dentist has always been impressed with my teeth. I last went in march this year, he said everything was ok, but i was looking at my pre-molars tonight (no idea how I came to this) but on 2 i noticed small holes (they are white not black or brown) in them. Is there anything I can do to reverse this as I am so worried. I don't understand why this has suddenly happened, and the dentist didn't notice a thing just 5 months ago! And every other tooth seems normal (well to me anyway)

At present...

I brush morning and night, always have done.
I do drink probably more sugary drinks than I should, Which I am cutting down on right away.
I have a generally healthy diet, eat my 5 portions of fruit/veg a day and I have a normal BMI.

Can anyone offer advice?

[Dr Pav Khaira]

Hi Steve,

I can understand your concerns. The little pits you can see are due to acid in the mouth. You have mentioned that you are a healthy and athletic person.

The appearance and distribution is the acid wear does not cause me major concern as it is indicative of a historic problem at about the age of about 6-9. It can be very easily rectified with a little bit of white filling material.

I hope this helps

[steverothery]

Thankyou very much for getting back to me Doctor.
I am an Orthotist in Southampton at present (temp for a few years) and I am not registered with a dentist here. My dentist I have seen for 24 years, and prefer to see is based in Scotland where my parents live. I am not going back to my parents until xmas (4 months), is this cause for concern? Is there any way these holes can remineralize? Will this only get worse? Can I change anything.

Changes I have made so far - every night with dinner 1 pint of water instead of half a pint of fizzy coke, no snacks during the week just my breakfast lunch and dinner. Plenty of fruit and veg every day.

I think I know why it has happened - have been eating sugary things alot and crisps (even though I have very healthy meals like fish etc, and I have been waking up with a "dry" mouth - probably acid. I have stopped doing this and this morning already my mouth felt less dry when I woke. The pits seem very hard, no soft spots as far as I can tell.

[Dr Pav Khaira]

You do need attention to these at some point but there is no decay or other infection there. The distribution of the wear is very specific for the ages I mentioned previously. If it were longer than that we would be able to see significantly more evidence of damage elsewhere.

All carbonated drinks are very bad, even diet ones. Fruit juices can be just as damaging. as long as you regulate frequency of acidic foods and drinks you will not have any prolonged problems. The lesions will not fill in but have likely remineralised to a certain extent.

I hope this helps

[steverothery]

Thankyou very much