Tooth decay is a common dental condition occurring in children, teens and adults. When you eat or drink foods containing sugars, the bacteria in plaque produce acids that attack tooth enamel. The stickiness of the plaque keeps these acids in contact with your teeth and, over time, the enamel can break down. This is when cavities can form.
Cavities are more common among children, but changes that occur with ageing make cavities an adult problem, too. Tooth decay occurring in an unerupted, immature permanent tooth can progress deeper into the pulp causing severe, excruciating pain, which is described as pulpitis. If untreated, the infection can spread deeper causing a dental abscess. If, this condition occurs in unerupted, immature permanent teeth, it can hamper the root formation and tooth eruption process. So the treatment usually performed for this condition is known as apexification.
Apexification is defined as “a method of inducing a calcified barrier in a root with open apex or the continued apical development of incompletely formed root in teeth with necrotic pulp”. This procedure is performed by an endodontist using special cement known as Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA). The procedure will enable the tip of the tooth apex to close as the child grows older. MTA stimulates release of growth factors and bioactive molecules from the cemented matrix and signals progenitor/stem cells to differentiate into dentin. If the tooth heals, no additional treatment will be necessary. The more mature the root becomes, the better the chance for the survival of the tooth.
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