MYTH 6: WORMS  CAUSE  CAVITIES  IN  TEETH

No worm can stay alive inside a mouth, let alone cause cavities! This myth is propagated by quacks posing as dentists (there are plenty of them!). When uninformed patients (I would not say ‘illiterate patients’ because many educated people also go to quacks for a variety of reasons, the prime one being that the ‘treatment’ provided is usually inexpensive) visit these quacks with a huge cavity in a tooth, the ‘dentist’ places a small piece of folded leaf with some ‘secret recipe’ inside the cavity for a few minutes. When this piece of leaf is removed and unfolded, you will see a dead worm in it (if he wants to scare the life out of you, you will be treated to the sight of a live, wriggling worm!). After this, another type of ‘medicine’ is placed inside the cavity and the patient is sent home with an assurance that the tooth will not cause any more trouble.

And the pain actually disappears, at least for a few days or weeks. When I caution my patients against getting treated by the quacks, they ask me to explain how they could get pain relief if the person treating them was a quack. The reason is quite simple: the person had placed a piece of cotton soaked in some kind of a mild neurotoxin (chemicals which can cause the death of nerves). Some plants also produce mild neurotoxins and when a piece of leaf from such a plant is placed inside a cavity showing pulp exposure – the cause of toothache – the chemical effectively kills the nerves within the tooth, leading to a prompt relief from pain.

The actual trouble starts now because the pain disappears but the cause of pain (pulp infection) persists. In addition to the original infection, the kind-hearted quack has added some more infection from his non-sterile instruments. The patient forgets he ever had any dental problem because there is no pain, but one day an abscess develops causing very severe, continuous, throbbing pain. This happens always without exception when an infected pulp is left untreated or partially treated. This time the patient comes to a qualified dentist and when the dentist suggests a RCT (if there is not much bone destruction) or extraction when there is no hope of saving the tooth, the patient gets angry at the dentist’s incompetence! “The previous ‘doctor’ could relieve my pain in no time by placing a piece of cotton in my tooth and you want me to get my tooth removed! What kind of a dentist are you?” When I explain to them in detail what had actually happened was a result of the quack’s ‘treatment’, almost all the patients show a remarkable understanding of the real cause of the trouble and agree to undergo a proper treatment. But a few would not accept any explanation and go back to the original ‘expert’. We can only wonder at how brave they are and wish them luck.

What actually is the cause of a cavity in a tooth? The mouth is a reservoir of different types of bacteria. Some of them cause gum diseases, and some cause cavities. The bacteria in the saliva convert the sugar in the food to a mild acid, which slowly dissolves the enamel. If this process is left unchecked, enough amount of enamel is removed leading to a visible cavity. So the formation of caries (tooth decay) is a biochemical process (bio because of bacteria and chemical because of the acid produced) and has nothing to do with worms either living or dead.

If there are no worms in the mouth, then how does the quack remove one from the tooth? It is very simple: he removes a worm from the tooth because he puts it there in the first place! It is a well-practiced trick, nothing more, nor less. Their ‘treatment’ may be inexpensive but the consequences will be deadly!