Why do I keep getting cavities?

A huge part of it is genetic. If you have crappy teeth, good oral hygiene will only minimise the effects of that :(

I DON'T floss and I don't do a fluoride rinse, but I have literally never had a cavity. Literally never! I'm 34. I grew up super poor and had pretty inconsistent dental care in the first 20-ish years of my life. Your problem (and my tremendous good fortune) is 100% genetic. I do agree that your dentist sounds like kind of a jerk.

Xylitol is clinically proven to reduce cavities - try sugar free gum after meals?

Here's how to choose a dentist: are there big, glossy ads for them all over town/TV with headshots showing their perfect white teeth and taglines like "We're in the SMILES business!"...? They are not your dentist. When you go in does the lobby look like a set in a Kubrick film? They are not your dentist. Do they discover that they need to do another crown every single time you go in there? THEY ARE NOT YOUR DENTIST. I lost one tooth to a crown-happy freakshow like this and fled after she discovered another molar in dire need of crowning. Never again. This was like five years ago and the needful molar is still in my head, unmolested, because I switched to university faculty practice. They operate out of a secret lair deep in the dental school that nobody knows about. They don't advertise. They don't have a massive office staff that gives you an appointment card and then mails out reminders--you have to remember, yourself, because they aren't paying anybody to remember for you. The lobby is a room with some unassuming lobby chairs in it and a poster or two from 1986 and 10-year-old carpet. They don't need to flog teethwhitening or do unnecessary crowns in order to pay for billboards. Consequently, I spend a whole lot less money, I have many more of the teeth I was born with, and my dentists are the same people teaching dentistry to the next crop of dentists to come out of the school, so I'm pretty sure they're on top of any new dentistry developments. If you don't happen to live in a community with a big university dental school, visit several dentists before you let anybody drill. Find the most conservative one in town.

Man I'm sorry your dentists have been so lecturey. Here are things that have contributed to cavities in my family: 1) Genetics. My brother & sister are both genetically disposed to excess buildup (I want to say tartar buildup but I don't think that's right). Their dentist often commented on the fact that they were just plain genetically predisposed to lots of cavities, and they both have to be extra careful 2) Bad previous dental care. I had a bad dentist who did a bad job putting sealants on my teeth as a child and I got cavities under every single one. I have also gotten several cavities under existing fillings, just because they were badly done (future dentists were pissed about this). What to do: Only thing I can recommend is post-lunch brushing (or post-any meal). And get a dentist who's not a jerk.

I hear you, this is frustrating. I have crappy teeth and take more diligent care of them than anyone I know. Now my 13-month-old daughter, who we hold down to brush her teeth every night, and who has never had juice or a bottle in her life, is getting cavities, too. It's maddening. I think it's a combination of different things:To a certain extent, cavities are subjective. In my experience, dentists with digital x-rays pick up more and earlier cavities. Some dentists are more conservative, willing to wait and see if a cavity progresses to something. Others are more aggressive and want to fill and drill everything. I drive 2 hours to see my childhood dentist, who is extremely old school and conservative and doesn't want to put in fillings if it's not absolutely necessary because that can cause problems down the line.Dental work can lead to more dental work. Fillings--both composite and amalgam--fail over time, necessitating drilling deeper to repair. Composite fillings can mess up your bite. Sometimes food gets trapped under a poorly-smoothed filling and causes decay. And any time you go in there and drill, you risk inflaming the nerve, which is how I ended up with two abscesses and two root canals right after I got fillings in teeth that had never bothered me before.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptococcus_mutans. S. mutans is an infectious disease. Not everyone has the right bacteria in their mouth to cause cavities in the first place.Bruxism/grinding. This is a big one for me. I've had dentists casually mention that my wear on my back teeth looked like it was from grinding but no one ever suggested that it might be the cause of my decay, which has only ever been in my molars, often over and over again in the same teeth. I recently did some research and it turns out that bruxism can cause cavities. Whoops. I don't grind my teeth to my knowledge, but I do clench and it's only recently, after a period of stress and an aching jaw, that I've realized how bad it is.Diet. You can go down a long rabbit hole of the Weston A. Price diet/holistic dentistry and curing tooth decay naturally. Vitamins K2 and D are especially important. I'm adding fermented cod liver oil and grass fed butter to my diet and my daughter's diet, because I figure it can't hurt. I've definitely been d-deficient during times in my life and apparently people who don't eat a lot of animal proteins (vegans) sometimes have worse teeth. There are things you can do for some of this: finding a conservative dentist who you trust is key, you can get a custom mouthguard off amazon for pretty cheap if you grind your teeth, you can take supplements, make dietary changes, get prescription toothpastes like gel kam and try something like mi paste to remineralize your teeth. But it's a balance, I think. I wouldn't be happy if I were going to never eat another clementine or handful of jelly beans as a snack, if I were to brush 4x a day instead of two, and I doubt it would help that much, anyway.

I've pretty much been you. I do most of what you already do--the Sonicare, mouthwash, etc. Two things occur to me: (a) How often do you go to your dentist for a cleaning? Because in addition to all of what you're doing, I go four times a year because I have to get the plaque/whatever cleaned off more frequently. And I've managed to go years without a cavity now. (b) GET ANOTHER DENTIST. I've seen a lot of dentists who had no effing idea what to do with me and my problem mouth, and it sounds like yours is the same way. Try to find someone else who doesn't just nag you to get another Sonicare and throws up his hands.

Pasta, bread, rice and other carbs will cause cavities.

Okay, I posted after your update, and I know you are frustrated with changes that don't seem to help, but I really recommend that you not give up. It is absolutely true that you can be genetically prone to cavities. I am sure that my mother was. However, she gave up and made the situation for her teeth so much worse, and so much more expensive. Brushing after lunch for six months and evaluating then is so much less costly than crowns and root canals. I am absolutely not preaching, I am very sympathetic, and hope you find something that works.