What to do?
I just got back to regular dentist visits after almost 6 years of avoiding it (I moved out, changed cities, took me time to actually get the time and money to go). I'm not trying to make excuses, I know it's my own fault for letting it happen. My family always had weak teeth, too.
And here's the thing. I have two rather large cavities - one between teeth #36 and #37 (tooth #37), and the other between #46 and #47 (#47). I'm currently treating one - we're doing what we can, trying to avoid doing a root canal with a temporary zinc oxide filling. Hopefully the other tooth is not as bad, as I assume the dentist chose the worse one to treat first. My next visit is on the 1st of July. The waiting time for a visit is 2-3 months.
The second tooth wasn't even looked at properly yet. Well, my dentist checked both and decided to treat #47 first. I'm moving out again, this time staying in the same city and with the same dentist, but the costs are high.. And I'm not sure what to do. Whether I should focus on the first tooth for now and treat the second one later (probably starting around September/October due to the amount of patients there), or try and talk my dentist into doing both at one visit. I'm not sure whether he'll have time for that AND I'll be able to afford both the filling/root canal on the first tooth AND starting the treatment on the second. I'm heavily considering treating the first tooth on the July's visit and then booking for the next one... But I'm not sure if I can afford to wait that long for another appointment either. The damage will be just too much. I was foolishly picking out food from the cavity between #36 and #37 with a needle, possibly damaging the dentin even more, but I'm not doing it anymore.
What should I do? Anything to maybe slow the decay as much as possible, so the October's appointment wouldn't overwhelm me with costs? I'm already flossing, brushing teeth twice a day, avoiding sugars, sour things... Everything I can. I brush my teeth first thing in the morning with hydroxyapatite toothpaste. Rinse with water after each meal. Floss and brush my teeth in the evening with fluoride toothpaste and don't eat after brushing. Brush 30-60mins before/after eating. I'm extra careful around the temporary filling (optimistic about it, there's no pain, inflammation or anything), and the decaying tooth.