Question about cavities?

I went to the dentist today, because I need a lot of work, and I wanted to start getting it done. Anyway, I have a couple of cavities. The dentist said I have a "3 surface cavity"... what is that? How many surfaces of a tooth is there?? He recommended that I fill that one first, and that one is the most painful one... it gives me headaches sometimes. Anyway, I'm going back to the dentist wednesday for a cleaning, and then I have to get the fillings... But my question is... what is a 3 surface cavity... and how many surfaces does a tooth have?

Question about cavities?
All teeth have five surfaces: mesial, distal, facial (aka buccal), lingual (aka palatal), and occlusal (aka incisal for front teeth).





A filling that extends to multiple surfaces is a two, three, four, or five surface filling.
Reply:That's not what it means. The three is a measurement.
Reply:A tooth is a bone fragment connected to the roots all the dentist can do is fill the tooth the tooth does not have any surfaces take some excedrin for the toothache a three surface cavity is a hole near the top of the tooth
Reply:tooth has 5 surfaces. if your tooth has 3 surface cavity it usually means that tooth started to decay from the biting surface first, and than it spread in between the teeth so two other surfaces got decayed as well (usually due to insignificant flossing). I hope you understand the answer, I bet your dentist has model of the teeth in his office and can show you better there. Never be shy to ask, it is your mouth, you need to know about it.
Reply:Imagine your head is a huge tooth. It has a top, front, back and two sides. That's just like a tooth. If you have a 3-surface cavity, it involves three of those surfaces. It's usually the top and the two sides that contact the neighboring teeth. In fact, you may have three separate cavities that just got large enough to bump into each other inside the tooth. That's usually what happens.