<p>In my years of pediatric practice I have often been asked, ‘When does a patient become an adult?’ This is my definition of an adult:</p>
<p>An adult is someone who makes, keeps, and pays for their dental appointments.</p>
<p>A thousand years ago, I was a college student who suddenly went from zero cavities to 7. I had regular care, but didn’t mention to my parents that the dentist said I had several pinholes 6 months earlier. And no, my oral hygene at school wasn’t the best.<br>
That said, get a second opinion! That’s a really big change.</p>
<p>By the time people reach their early twenties they’ve had a full permanent dentition for 8 to 10 years, enough time to develop cavities in between the teeth. These can be detected with the bite-wing xrays which are the ones the dentist usually insists in taking every 18 months or so. If the person has been somewhat neglectful in their oral hygiene, visits to the dentist, and their diet has included a lot of “sugar, sugar, sugar” as someone suggested in a previous post, it’s no wonder they end up with a lot of cavities. Regardless, after resolving the problem with the painful tooth, if in doubt, ask for a second opinion.</p>