Food Stuck Between Teeth: If You See Something Dark, It May Already Be Too Late.

Hello.

This is the director of Seoul Bardi Dental Clinic.

What do you do

when food gets stuck between your teeth?

Do you remove it right away with dental floss or an interdental brush,

or...

"It’s annoying, but if I brush later it’ll probably come out~"

and just leave it alone?

The patient I’m introducing today

was, unfortunately, the latter.

"Even when food got stuck, it didn’t hurt much,

so I just left it alone.

But one day it started hurting so badly

that I couldn’t sleep..."

Today, through a case of a patient who left food impaction untreated,

I’ll explain the effects of untreated food debris on teeth

and how it was treated.^^

Food trapped between teeth: It looked fine on the outside, but what about inside?

Food stuck between teeth: If you see something dark, it may already be too late.

This patient had received a bridge treatment

a long time ago from the left front tooth to the canine (#21~23)

for three connected teeth.

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Looking closely at the uncomfortable area,

the source of the problem was between the bridge end tooth (#21)

and the implant next to it (#11).

Food kept getting stuck in this space,

and because it was left untreated,

it eventually led to severe pain.

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When we examined the inside of the mouth more carefully,

the canine (#23) had receding gums,

and decay was visible near the root,

and the front tooth (#21) had a dark area showing through the inside of the restoration,

which immediately made me think,

'Ah, there’s quite a big problem inside.'

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To confirm exactly, I gently touched it with an instrument (probe),

and the tooth, which should have been hard, had decayed so much that

the instrument sank right in.

That was proof the decay was very deep.

The X-ray confirmed what we expected.

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Decay was advancing in black along the side of the front tooth and deep into the root.

The cause was none other than

'food that had not been removed.'

Food stuck in the bridge gap did not come out and decomposed inside,

slowly dissolving the tooth inside the restoration.

After removing the bridge and looking inside... Food stuck between teeth: If you see something dark, it may already be too late.

We removed the existing bridge

and checked the internal condition.

As expected, the food debris and contamination were severe,

but here is the one fortunate thing in an otherwise unfortunate situation...

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The amount of remaining tooth structure was adequate,

so extraction could be avoided.

I suggested to the patient a method of treating each tooth independently,

rather than using the previous connected structure.

If we were to make it as a bridge again, even if only one tooth had a problem later,

we would have to remove all the connected prosthetics,

which carries a risk.

Therefore, for better long-term maintenance,

we made the following plan.

Food stuck between teeth: If you see something dark, it may already be too late.

1. First, the front tooth (#21), where the decay was deep,

underwent root canal treatment,

and then was covered with a strong zirconia crown.

2. For the missing tooth space (#22),

because the gum bone was strong, we decided to place an implant

without bone grafting.

3. For the canine (#23), where the decay was mild,

we decided to carefully remove only the decayed area

and finish with a zirconia crown.

Treatment process for food impaction, treated independently for each tooth

First, we began treatment on the front tooth (#21),

which had severe decay.

We thoroughly removed the decay

and carefully performed root canal treatment to remove the infected pulp.

#21 Root canal treatment process

The decay was so deep that we were worried,

but fortunately the root canal treatment was completed successfully,

allowing us to preserve the tooth.

Then we proceeded with surgery right away.

The space where the bridge had connected was fortunately supported by very strong jawbone.

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Thanks to that, we were able to place the implant very smoothly

without the bone grafting process that can be difficult for the patient.

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However, since it takes time for the implant to integrate with the bone,

we made a temporary tooth so that daily life would not be disrupted in the meantime.^^

Final prosthetics for aesthetics Food stuck between teeth: If you see something dark, it may already be too late.

After waiting 3 months for the implant to firmly bond with the bone,

it was finally time to make the final prosthetics.

In fact, front teeth are all about aesthetics, so even from the doctor’s perspective,

every moment is very delicate.

Especially in the case of the canine (#23), where the gums had receded significantly,

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if we ignored the collapsed gum line and simply placed a restoration,

the tooth could look unnaturally long,

which might make the overall appearance seem unnatural.

To compensate for this structural limitation,

we applied the 'pink porcelain' technique.

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This is a method where the root portion of the prosthetic is precisely made with pink ceramic

that closely matches the patient’s actual gum color.

Thanks to that, we were able to create a natural-looking line that appears as though healthy gums have grown back.

231213

The reason such delicate detail is possible

is that we operate our own in-house dental lab

and work in close collaboration.

The medical team and dental technician think through the case together

and carefully refine the prosthetic while considering the patient’s smile line

and overall harmony.

230315(before) 231213 (after)

Even if the process is a little more complicated,

this is also why we put our full effort into creating

a custom prosthetic just for one patient.^^ 230315 (before) 231213 (after)

Are you currently feeling especially bothered or uncomfortable by food stuck between your teeth?

Please remember that a small habit like

"It’s annoying, but it’ll come out someday~"

can lead to pain and even tooth loss.

Accurate diagnosis and proper treatment

can help save your precious natural teeth.

Please feel free to come in for a consultation anytime.

Thank you for reading this long post today~^^

▼Check the clinic location▼

Food stuck between teeth: If you see something dark, it may already be too late.

Go to call for an appointment
02-481-4278

| This post was written directly by Seoul Bardi Dental Clinic for the purpose of providing medical information in compliance with Article 56, Paragraph 1 of the Medical Service Act. The information provided is for reference only, and we recommend that you visit a medical institution and receive guidance from medical staff for symptom assessment and accurate care methods. All procedures and surgeries performed at the dental clinic may involve possible side effects depending on the individual (such as inflammation, bleeding, and swelling). Please make your decision after sufficient consultation with medical staff in advance. The treatment cases in this post were photographed with the consent of patients who completed treatment at our clinic, and the before-and-after photos were taken under the same conditions. |