Welcome back!

Supplies:

 Sonicare toothbrush.  You can use any toothbrush, of course.
  The Sonicare just 'feels' more effective to me.
  If it feels too 'violent', try the Braun.
  Electric brushes are more fun than the manual type.

 Toothpaste (Plain white stuff is just fine).  Read the ingredient
  list when shopping.  Check for Fluoride.  Fluoride is good.

 Floss
  (Johnson & Johnson waxed. Flat, measures about 0.005" thick)
  (Not the store brand, because that cheap stuff shreds and sticks
  between your teeth, driving you crazy.)
  After you have perfected your flossing technique, you can shop
  for less expensive floss.  Most of the cheap stuff is junk.

 Hydrogen Peroxide Solution, 3% concentration.
  Found hidden on bottom shelf, near the first aid supplies.
  Often in a dark brown plastic bottle.
  The label will say "For treatment of minor cuts and abrasions."
  And "For use as an antiseptic gargle or rinse."
  Get a couple of the smaller 16 oz bottles.  It becomes ineffective
  over time and / or if it is heated much beyond 86 F.
  Try not to jar or shake the bottle.  Leave tightly capped.

  The bottle may say "dilute with an equal amount of water."
  I rinse with the stuff full strength. No problems.

 Forget mouthwash. Stuff is completely ineffective for longer than a few minutes.
 Forget breath mints.  Most contain sugar, which grows oral bugs like crazy.
 Forget chewing gum like 'Dentyne'. Lots of sugar.
 Read the label first.  You will be surprised.

First thing in the morning and after every meal and snack,
 rinse out with an ounce of Hydrogen Peroxide.  The stuff is very safe to rinse in
 your mouth and will not cause discomfort.  Swish a few times and spit.
 The oral bugs will konk out and be rinsed down the drain. Peroxide foams a little
 when in contact with bacteria. The stuff has a very delicate flavor.
 It is 97 percent water.

After rinsing, floss.  Yank about 24" out of the container and wrap the end
 around either index finger.  Saw the floss between each tooth to get the bad
 stuff out.  There will be blood.  There may be pus. This is normal, until your
 gums are back in shape.  After each tooth, wrap the used floss on your finger and
 use clean floss for the next tooth. When you are done with both upper and lower
 jaws, rinse out with another ounce of peroxide solution.
 The stuff is very inexpensive. You are giving the antiseptic better access to
 the bacteria in the gaps between your teeth. Swish and spit.

*"Brushing teeth" is just a figure of speech.*
 Brush only those surfaces that you want to be clean. So in addition to all
 surfaces of every tooth, you will want to also brush the bacteria off of all
 other mouth surfaces, to slow the bugs as much as possible.
 Feel free to rinse the bristles under hot water and reload the brush with
 a little paste to clean another area.  Toothpaste is cheap.

 Brush all surfaces, including but not limited to:
 * Gums, (tongue - side and outside surfaces.) ("Lingual and facial")
 * Tongue. Top and bottom.  (Use a side-to-side motion.)
 * Roof of your mouth.
 * Inside surface of your lips.

 Take your time. This is a lot more pleasant than a root canal.
 Ask me how I know that. Go ahead. Ask.

 The first few dozen times that you attempt to clean the rear part of your tongue
 and perhaps the rear part of the roof of your mouth, you will gag.
 Don't worry, everyone reacts the same way to pressure in these areas.

 You aren't gonna lose your lunch. But stay near the sink anyway.
 After a while, you will react with much less enthusiasm.

 Soon, you may not gag at all.

 With brushing, flossing and the peroxide solution rinse, just about anyone can
 get excellent checkup results.

Want to know what your breath smells like to others?
 1) Sniff one wrist to get a baseline.
 2) Lick that wrist and allow it to dry.
 3) Sniff that wrist again.  This is pretty much what you are radiating.

That is about it.
When you have kids, please show them the dental litany every day, follow up
with them as they grow up because they are not going to think to do this
themselves.

They will grow up to be much happier people.

Best to you.

--Winston

If the hole is through the enamel, the only option is getting it excavated
and filled.

One important thing is your age  -- in other words, how long these caries
have been present.  If you are middle aged or older, and these have been
this way for years, then the best thing to do is keep an eye on them; they
are not very likely to get worse.

Caries risk analysis is important.  I have seen radiographs of caries that
did not progress over a 15 year period.  Just because there is a "hole" in
the tooth, it is NOT necessarily appropriate to restore the tooth.  There is
a constant remineralization process from the minerals in your saliva, and
caries can acutally "heal" under the right circumstances.

The most important thing to keep in mind is when to place [or I should say
"if to place"] the first filling.  We don't have any filling material that
duplicates natural tooth structure, and once the initial filling is placed,
the usual scenario is that the filling breaks down and needs to be replaced
in 5 or 10 years.  Each time the filling is replaced, the "hole" gets a bit
larger, and the tooth gets more irritated by the drilling/filling.
Eventually, a crown is needed, and sometimes root canal treatment as well.

In my opinion, there are many, many cases where the best thing to do is
watch and see what happens.  As long as you go to the dentist regularly,
there is virtually no risk for problems by just watching.  You may find that
by watching, the caries stays the same over time, and you will not need any
filling.