Can you safely fill your own cavity?

Answer 1

You CAN but only temporarily (like if yours falls out on Friday night but you can't go to the dentist til Monday) drugstores sell filling paste , its kept near the toothpain stuff like orajel and antiseptic rinse...its only $2 or $3 and you mix it yourself, or its premixed, you just roll it into a ball, stuff it in the cavity using a special little spoon that's provided, and let it harden, I find that if you chew on a piece of cloth (like tshrt) it hardens and tampers down way easier. Tada. All done. mY MOTHER HAD ONE LAST LIKE 10 YEARS, not reccomended tho

Answer #2:

You cannot repair your own cavities yourself however you can temporarily fill them with the paste that the first answer describes. The paste is actually for temporarily replacing lost fillings or temporarily repairing loose caps and should never be used as a permanent fix. Cavities are caused by thinning enamel (Layer of minerals outside of teeth) allowing bacteria to get to the dentin (The actual bone part of teeth). This bacteria breaks down the dentin. It is a real bacterial infection, however it cannot be cured via anti-biotics because it is not really tissue so no white blood cells are able to get to the infection. The way dentists repair cavities is by grinding away all of the infected parts of the enamel and dentin so it cannot spread farther, then they fill the missing parts of the tooth with a material made of gold, porcelain or a silver amalgam (Zinc, silver, tin, copper and lead) or a glass resin.

Filling a cavity with the stuff you can buy in stores will not stop the infection from progressing. When a tooth has a hole in it, this allows bacteria to get to the dentin or the pulp (Nerve-like center of the tooth). Because it is not protected by the enamel, an infection can start extremely easily and you do not want an infection spreading into the pulp as it causes extreme pain and will require a root canal or pulpectomy. This stuff allows you to temporarily fill it so an infection won't start until you can get the filling replaced.

However, filling a hole in an infected tooth can stop or slow the pain of a bad infection but if you have an infection in the pulp you should not fill it. When white blood cells fight an infection as they will for an infection in the pulp, it creates pus which is dead white blood cells (Leukocytes). Filling a tooth while you're fighting off the infection can cause a build up of pressure from the pus which will put pressure on the nerve causing extreme pain.