Tooth decay treatment in Barcelona: white spot to root canal
Corona Dental treats tooth decay in Barcelona at any depth and in any location — from the chalky white spot on the enamel, which can still be stopped without a drill, through to destruction that has reached the nerve. The dentists and endodontists of the practice see these cases, the X-ray is taken on site, and the filling goes in at the same appointment. We work in four languages.
from €90white filling
1 visitfor early and moderate decay
30–60 mintypical appointment
since 2009in Barcelona
What tooth decay treatment costs in Barcelona
| Treatment |
Price |
| White filling, light-cured composite |
from €90 |
| Root canal treatment |
from €190 |
| Professional hygiene: EMS AirFlow and ultrasonics |
from €120 |
| Check-up with X-ray review |
€50 |
| Wisdom tooth extraction |
from €120 |
A first appointment in Barcelona, with clinical examination and X-ray, costs €50 and is paid separately from any treatment. What the filling itself comes to depends on four things, and all of them are known before anything starts.
| Factor |
How it affects the price |
| How deep the decay has gone |
A shallow lesion closes with a small restoration. Once the process has reached the pulp, root canal work is added and that is a separate line on the price list |
| Number of surfaces |
Rebuilding a biting surface is one job; restoring the contact point with the next tooth and a whole wall is another. The work is counted by surfaces |
| How many teeth |
A patient comes in about one tooth and the examination turns up two more quiet ones. The plan covers the whole picture, in order of urgency |
| Number of canals |
An incisor has one; a molar, three or four. Each canal is shaped, disinfected and sealed separately |
Dental care provided for diagnosis or treatment is exempt from Spanish VAT, so the figure quoted beforehand is the figure you pay. The plan, broken down by tooth and by stage, is given to you in writing at the first appointment. Everything else is on the price list.
What tooth decay is and how it progresses
Tooth decay — dental caries, to give it its clinical name — is not a hole that turns up one day. It is the slow destruction of the hard tissues of the tooth by the bacteria in dental plaque. Those bacteria feed on sugars from food and drink and release acids, and the acids strip calcium and fluoride out of the enamel — the process called demineralisation. While saliva replaces what is lost, the balance holds. When plaque sits on the tooth for hours and sugar arrives throughout the day, the losses win.
From there the route never varies: enamel, then dentine, then pulp. The enamel breaks down slowly, being the hardest tissue in the body. Dentine is softer and threaded with tubules, so a small opening in the enamel surface often conceals a cavity considerably larger underneath. When decay reaches the pulp — the nerve and blood supply inside the tooth — it becomes pulpitis, and after that periapical periodontitis, inflammation at the tip of the root. Each step is longer, more expensive and worse for the prognosis, and at the end of it sit abscess and the loss of the tooth.
Hence the single most useful conclusion on this page: if it hurts, it is no longer early. Pain arrives once the lesion has reached the dentine and, more often, once it has begun to irritate the pulp. Early tooth decay does not hurt at all.
Stages of tooth decay
| Stage |
What is happening |
What you notice |
| White spot |
The enamel loses minerals but stays intact. The patch changes colour: chalky white first, then yellowish or light brown. To a probe the surface is still smooth |
Nothing at all. Found only on examination |
| Early |
The enamel surface has broken down, the dentine is untouched. The area turns rough |
A short reaction to sweet and acidic things, sometimes to cold |
| Moderate |
The outer layer of dentine is involved and a cavity has formed |
Sensitivity to temperature and sugar, discomfort on chewing, food trapping in the same place |
| Deep |
Dentine is destroyed almost to the pulp, with only a thin layer left between the cavity and the nerve |
Marked pain from cold, heat and sweet things, sometimes a dull ache after eating |
The distinction is not academic. The stage decides how many visits are needed, whether anaesthetic is required, and whether the tooth stays alive.
Can tooth decay be reversed?
Only at the white-spot stage, and that is worth being precise about. While the enamel is still structurally whole and only its mineral content has been depleted, the balance can be pushed back the other way: fluoride, better cleaning between the teeth, and fewer sugar episodes through the day. That is remineralisation, and it is the one window in which decay is dealt with without a drill.
There is a second approach, resin infiltration, where a fluid resin soaks into the porous patch and seals the enamel from within without cutting. It suits a narrow set of situations: smooth surfaces and the areas between teeth, and it does nothing once a cavity has formed.
Once the surface has broken down, no amount of brushing or fluoride rebuilds it. The softened tissue has to come out and the tooth has to be restored. What makes the white spot awkward is that patients almost never find it themselves — it does not hurt, it does not catch, and on a biting surface it is invisible without drying the tooth and a good light. Early decay is always a finding from a check-up, never a reason for booking one.
Early signs worth an appointment
A visible holeIf you can see or feel one, even a small one, the enamel has already gone through and it will not close on its own
Sensitivity that sticks aroundAn ongoing reaction to sweet, hot or cold things in one particular tooth rather than across the mouth
Pain on bitingDiscomfort when chewing on one tooth can mean decay, a crack, or a restoration coming loose
A tooth going darkerGrey, brown or black shading. Not every stain is decay, but it needs looking at to tell
Food trappingDebris catching in the same spot after every meal usually means the contact between two teeth has been breached
A taste or smell that will not shiftBad breath that persists despite good cleaning can come from debris collecting in a cavity
Where a cavity hides
| Type |
Why it matters |
| Pit and fissure |
In the natural grooves on the biting surfaces of molars and premolars. The commonest site, because a toothbrush bristle does not reach into a narrow fissure. From above the groove merely darkens while a cavity sits underneath |
| Interproximal |
Between two neighbouring teeth. It goes unnoticed for a long time and shows up on an X-ray. The first clue is usually domestic: food starts catching in the same gap |
| Cervical, at the neck of the tooth |
Right at the gum line, where the enamel is thinner than anywhere else and the pulp is closest. It is also the band where plaque builds up most. In people who grind, this has to be told apart from abrasion and abfraction, which look similar and are not decay |
| Root surface |
On root exposed by receding gums — common in older patients and in gum disease. Root surface has no enamel over it, so it breaks down faster than the crown does |
| Around the whole neck |
A band of decay encircling the tooth at the gum line. Dangerous because it undercuts the crown at its base and the tooth can snap off whole |
Front teeth are a case of their own. There the job of rebuilding shape comes with the job of matching colour and translucency to the teeth either side, and incisor enamel is not uniform: translucent at the biting edge, denser and darker at the neck. A composite restoration is built up in layers of different opacity, and the shade is picked in daylight before anything starts, while the tooth has not yet dried out.
Decay under an old filling
This earns its own heading because it is the quietest form of all — secondary or recurrent decay. A filling does not last forever: in time a microscopic gap opens along its margin from shrinkage of the material, chewing load and temperature swings. Bacteria get into that gap and the process starts again, this time underneath the restoration where nobody can see it.
From the outside the tooth looks dealt with. There are no complaints until the hidden cavity matches the filling itself for size. It is found on a periapical X-ray, as a dark zone beneath the restoration that has no business being there.
The practical conclusion is plain: old fillings need checking as much as sound teeth do. If a restoration is more than five to seven years old, it is worth an X-ray at a routine check-up even when nothing is wrong.
Decay in wisdom teeth
A widespread idea says there is no point filling a wisdom tooth since it will come out eventually. In practice the decision answers two questions.
First: does the tooth chew? A wisdom tooth that has come through properly, sits in the arch and has something to bite against is a working molar like any other. Second: does the decay threaten the second molar next door? Decay on a wisdom tooth usually settles on the face turned towards its neighbour and crosses over — and that neighbour cannot be replaced like for like.
Extraction makes sense when the tooth is tilted, has not fully erupted, collects plaque under a flap of gum, or simply cannot be reached with a brush. A filling there will not last and the problem returns. That call is made on the X-ray, which shows where the roots sit and how far they are from the inferior dental nerve.
What causes dental caries
Plaque left in placeThe main factor. What counts is not how long you brush but how completely: a brush does not reach between the teeth, and floss or interdental brushes do
How often sugar arrivesFrequency decides more than quantity. Each exposure sets off an acid attack lasting around half an hour, so one bar at once is safer than the same bar in pieces all afternoon
Dry mouthReduced saliva from medication, illness or dehydration removes the natural rinsing and the minerals that repair enamel between attacks
Crowded teethWhere teeth overlap, plaque is not fully removed even by someone brushing conscientiously
CalculusHardened deposits at the gum line hold soft plaque against the tooth and block cleaning along the margin
Deep groovesNarrow, deep fissures and low mineralisation of the enamel both run in families
Missing teethWhen a tooth is lost the neighbours drift, opening gaps that are awkward to clean
Fixed bracesThe areas around brackets need their own cleaning aids; without them white spots appear within months
How we assess tooth decay in Barcelona
Dental caries is not something a glance settles on its own, so a clinical examination is combined with imaging and with a look at your risk factors.
| Method |
What it adds |
| Clinical examination with drying |
Chalky white patches only show on dried enamel; on a wet tooth they are invisible. This is where most early decay is caught |
| Probe |
Roughness and softening where nothing is yet visible. A tooth hollow inside can look whole from outside |
| Digital X-ray |
The surfaces between teeth, lesions under existing restorations, and the true depth of a cavity. Included in the first appointment, not billed separately |
| Caries-detecting dye |
The stain binds to softened dentine and marks the border of the lesion, so that everything affected comes out and nothing sound does |
| Thermal test |
How the pulp responds. Cold pain that lingers points to pulpitis rather than simple decay |
| Risk review |
Diet, cleaning routine, saliva flow and medical history, which together decide how often you should be seen |
Where the X-ray leaves the picture unclear, or a complex case has to be planned, we turn to a 3D scan — though ordinary decay does not call for one.
When a filling is no longer enough
A restoration has a structural limit. Once less than half the crown is left, composite handles that volume badly: it will not carry the chewing load, walls fracture, and the work has to be redone. The right answer then is an inlay or a crown made in the laboratory — covered on the dental prosthetics page.
Treatment is also postponed when the soft tissues are acutely inflamed — in stomatitis, or a flare of gingivitis or periodontitis. The inflammation is settled first and the decay dealt with afterwards.
Treating tooth decay in Barcelona, step by step
1
AnaestheticOften unnecessary for early decay. Where it is needed, gel on the gum first and then the injection, which by that point is not felt.
2
Isolating the toothThe working field is kept away from saliva. Moisture is the main reason a filling lifts at the margin a year or two later: composite does not bond to a wet surface.
3
Removing the decaySoftened dentine comes out and the border is checked with dye. Sound tissue is left alone — the more of it survives, the longer the tooth does.
4
Preparing the cavityThe surface is treated with the bonding system, and in a deep cavity a lining goes on the floor to protect the pulp.
5
Building the restorationComposite goes in layer by layer, each one cured under the lamp. Layering releases shrinkage stress and lets the cusps and grooves be rebuilt properly.
6
Polishing and checking the biteThe filling is adjusted to how you close and then polished. A high spot of a few tenths of a millimetre causes pain on biting, so the bite is checked before you leave the chair.
Deep decay is sometimes split across two visits: a therapeutic lining and a temporary filling first, and if the tooth has stayed quiet for a few days, the permanent restoration at the second. That is not over-caution — it is how we find out whether the pulp has held up.
How long an appointment takes
| Stage |
Time |
Visits |
| White spot |
20–30 minutes a session |
A short course |
| Early |
about 30 minutes |
One |
| Moderate |
40–60 minutes |
One |
| Deep |
up to an hour and a half |
One or two |
Anaesthetic
Anything that could be felt is done under local anaesthetic. Before the injection the gum is coated with anaesthetic gel, so the needle itself does not register — the sharp moment is the puncture, and that is what gets removed.
Which agent and how much depends on the tooth, the amount of work and your general health. That is why we ask at the appointment about long-term conditions, pregnancy and medication, particularly anything affecting clotting or blood pressure.
We do not offer sedation or general anaesthetic: the practice works with local anaesthetic only. If fear of the dentist is such that an appointment is impossible without sedation, it is more honest to say so at the outset than to stop halfway through. For moderate anxiety other things work: talking through each step before taking it, agreeing a hand signal to stop, and splitting the work across several short visits instead of one long one.
What the filling is made of
We work with light-cured composites — what most patients know as white fillings. The material goes in soft and sets under the lamp in seconds, which is why the shape can be modelled and why the tooth takes normal load as soon as you walk out.
Composites differ in filler and in opacity. Denser ones, built for load, go into back teeth; the front gets sets of shades of varying translucency from which the layered structure of a living tooth is assembled. How long the restoration lasts depends far less on the brand of material than on how well the tooth was isolated while it was placed, on the bite, and on cleaning at home.
When decay reaches the nerve
Decay is called complicated once it has stopped being decay alone: it has left the hard tissues and reached the pulp or the tissues around the root. That is no longer a filling job but root canal treatment.
| Diagnosis |
What is done |
| Pulpitis |
Inflammation of the nerve and blood supply. The pulp is removed, the canals shaped along their full length, disinfected and sealed. Working length is measured with an apex locator and confirmed on an X-ray |
| Periapical periodontitis |
Inflammation has passed the root tip into bone. The canals are cleaned, medication is left inside between visits, and only once the process settles are they sealed for good |
| Retreatment |
A canal was sealed short of the tip or missed altogether. The old material comes out and the canal is shaped again — longer work than a first-time treatment |
Root canal treatment takes between one and three visits depending on the diagnosis and the number of canals. Afterwards the tooth is brittle: with no pulp it gets no supply of its own, and little structure is left. A back tooth in that state needs a cover that spreads the biting load across the weakened walls; left with a filling alone it eventually splits and is lost whole.
Tooth decay in children and adults
| |
What is different |
| Children |
Enamel on baby teeth is thinner, so a cavity travels faster and reaches the nerve sooner. Treating decay in a primary tooth is not only about pain: that tooth is holding the space for the permanent one behind it, and losing it early moves the neighbours into the gap. Baby teeth are seen by our paediatric dentist on a separate clinic |
| Adults |
Risk shifts with age. Dry mouth from long-term medication, gums receding to expose softer root surface, and the slow breakdown of fillings placed decades ago all open new fronts. Which is why examinations matter just as much at fifty as at fifteen, only for different reasons |
Tooth decay in pregnancy
It can and should be treated: a source of infection in the mouth is not something to leave for a year. The best window is the second trimester, once the baby's organs have formed and the birth is still a long way off. In the first and third, treatment is planned only where it is needed.
Local anaesthetic is used in the second trimester, with the agent and dose chosen for the situation. An X-ray, if one is required, is taken with a lead apron and the smallest field. Tell reception when you book and the dentist before the examination — it changes both the plan and the order of things. More on the dentistry in pregnancy page.
The dentist's view
Where the line falls between a filling and a root canal
The question patients ask more than any other is "are you going to kill the nerve?" And behind it is almost always the suspicion that the dentist takes the pulp out to save himself trouble.
The logic runs the other way. A living tooth is stronger than a root-filled one and lasts longer, so the pulp is kept wherever keeping it is possible. The line is not drawn by how deep the cavity is but by the state of the pulp. If the inflammation is irreversible there is nothing to preserve: the pain comes back within days and the tooth has to be opened again anyway.
There are several markers. A brief twinge from cold that fades in a couple of seconds is usually reversible irritation and the tooth stays alive. Pain that lasts minutes after the stimulus is gone, pain at night, pain with no trigger at all — those point to irreversible inflammation. Separately there is the X-ray: any change around the root tip means the process has already left the tooth.
Sometimes the decision only becomes clear during the work, with the cavity open and the pulp horn either exposed or not. That is why I talk both scenarios through, with the cost of each, before I start. Finding out the plan has changed while you are in the chair with an open tooth should not happen to anyone.
Dentist, endodontist
15 years in practice
Preventing tooth decay
Preventing tooth decay costs less than treating it, and that is arithmetic rather than a slogan: a check-up is €50, a root canal with the crown that follows it, several times more.
Professional cleaningTwice a year for most people, more often if you smoke or wear fixed braces
Clean between the teeth dailyLast thing at night, before brushing rather than after, so the paste reaches the gaps you have just opened up
Fluoride toothpasteBrush twice a day and spit without rinsing, so the fluoride stays on the enamel instead of going down the sink
Sugar at mealtimesFinish with something that is not sweet — cheese, plain water — and leave it at that until the next meal
Fissure sealantsWorth doing soon after the permanent molars arrive, around six and twelve years old
The six-monthly visit does a second job as well: existing fillings and the bite get checked. A restoration whose margin has begun to leak is a small repair, as long as no new cavity has grown underneath it.
Who we treat in Barcelona
Adults at any ageFrom a first filling to root surface decay where the gums have receded
Anyone in pain nowAcute pain we try to see the same day in Barcelona, if only to take the symptom away
Newly arrived in SpainIf treatment started in another country, we work from your X-rays and notes
People who have not been in yearsNo lectures. The plan runs in order of urgency instead of demanding everything at once
Visitors and short staysA clinical examination, X-ray and filling can be done in a single appointment
In four languagesEnglish, Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian, with no interpreter needed
Where we are and how to get here
Our dental practice in Barcelona is at c/ Entença, 69, in the Esquerra de l'Eixample, two minutes from Rocafort station on metro line L1. With tooth decay the location matters more than it first appears: one tooth closes in a single visit, but a plan covering several pieces is spread across appointments and you will be coming back.
| Address |
c/ Entença, 69 · 08015 Barcelona |
| Metro |
Rocafort (L1), Urgell (L1), Tarragona (L3), Entença (L5) |
| Hours |
Monday to Thursday 10:00–19:00, Friday 9:00–18:00 |
| Parking |
calle Entença, 61 |
Where our patients travel in from
| Coming from |
Route |
| Neighbouring districts |
Sant Antoni, Poble-sec, Hostafrancs, Sants and both halves of the Eixample: on foot or a couple of stops |
| L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Santa Coloma |
L1 runs straight to Rocafort, no changes |
| Cornellà, Esplugues, Sant Joan Despí |
L5 as far as Entença station |
| Sant Boi, Pallejà, Martorell, Igualada |
FGC on the Llobregat-Anoia line to Espanya |
| El Prat, Castelldefels, Gavà, Sitges |
Rodalies to Sants and change onto L1 |
| Badalona, Mataró, Terrassa, Sabadell |
Suburban train into Sants and one change |
Travelling in from outside the city? Say so when you book: we group neighbouring teeth from the plan into one sitting to cut down the number of journeys.
The clinical team
Tooth decay is handled by the practice dentists, and complicated cases by the endodontists. If it emerges along the way that a tooth needs a crown or orthodontic preparation, the prosthodontist and the orthodontist look at it in that same appointment.
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Why have it treated here
X-ray on siteThe imaging room is in the practice, so a hidden cavity is found at the appointment rather than after a trip somewhere else.
No surprises mid-treatmentIf the picture changes once the cavity is open, we stop and talk before going on, not afterwards.
Anaesthetic and isolation includedThey are not extras on the invoice; they are part of the filling and sit inside the quoted price.
Three dentists at the first appointmentWhere the case goes beyond a filling, the dentist, the surgeon and the orthodontist all see it at once.
In-house laboratoryIf an inlay or a crown is needed, it is made here, with nobody in between.
Conservative by defaultWhat is affected comes out and every bit of sound tissue stays: that is what decides how long the tooth lasts.
Cases
Section in preparation.
Common questions
Does treating tooth decay hurt?
Early decay usually does not and needs no anaesthetic. Deeper work is done under local, with gel on the gum before the injection. One detail people are rarely warned about: lower back teeth need a block, which numbs half the jaw along with the tongue and lip for two or three hours. Until the feeling returns it is best not to eat — biting your cheek in that state is easy and you will not notice.
Can it be treated the same day?
Acute pain we try to see the same day, even if only to settle the symptom. Planned work goes by appointment: a full restoration needs an hour of chair time and that slot has to be free. If you ring in the morning and the tooth can wait, there is usually something that day or the next.
How many teeth can be treated in one visit?
Normally two or three, if they sit together and fall under the same anaesthetic. The limit is not technical but physical: holding your mouth open for more than about ninety minutes is hard on the jaw joint. Teeth on opposite sides we split across visits, otherwise you leave numb on both sides and can neither eat nor talk.
How do I know if I have a cavity?
Honestly, you often cannot, and that is the point of six-monthly check-ups. What you can do is pay attention to asymmetry: one tooth reacting when the others do not, floss shredding in the same gap every time, a side of the mouth you have quietly stopped chewing on. Those are worth reporting even when nothing hurts, because they tell the dentist where to look first.
Can a badly decayed tooth still be saved?
It depends how far it has gone. While the destruction stays in the crown, above the gum margin, there is a wall to build on and the tooth is restored. Once decay runs below that margin or into the root, a filling has nothing to hold onto: then it is a crown, and if there is no support left either, extraction. Which is the argument for dealing with it early — the room to manoeuvre only ever narrows.
Is tooth decay contagious?
The bacteria behind it do pass from one mouth to another, mostly from adult to small child through shared spoons or dummies. That does not make decay catching like a cold: it still needs frequent sugar and poor cleaning to take hold. The practical points are not to taste a baby's food with their spoon and to have your own decay treated before the baby arrives.
Can I fix a cavity at home?
No. Toothpastes and rinses lower the risk and help the enamel at the white-spot stage, but they do not close a cavity that has already formed. Home remedies only buy time, and the decay uses it to get closer to the nerve.
What shortens the life of a filling?
Three things, and none of them is the material. Grinding, which chips the margins of restorations overnight. Biting hard objects — ice, olive stones, pens. And skipping floss: if the contact point is never cleaned, decay comes back around the edge of the filling rather than through the middle of it.
Should old fillings be replaced?
Not on age alone. What does justify it is a margin you can catch with a probe, a shadow on the X-ray, a shade that has drifted away from the tooth around it, or floss that frays at that spot. Replacing a sound filling just because it is old removes more tissue for nothing.
Book an appointment about tooth decay
We treat tooth decay in Barcelona by appointment. Message us on WhatsApp: we will tell you whether it needs an urgent slot and what it costs before you come in.
Message us on WhatsApp Dental practice in Barcelona · c/ Entença, 69 · Monday to Thursday 10:00–19:00, Friday 9:00–18:00
This page is for information and does not replace an appointment. The diagnosis and the treatment plan are set by the dentist after examining the patient. Prices current for 2026. Registro sanitario E08706004.
