Will dentists make cavities worse by poking holes in your teeth?

No: The explorer the dentists uses is to identify soft areas of the teeth that could be caused by cavities , often in their early stages. These instruments cannot cause cavities.

Dental check up: Hi, no dentists don't make the cavities worse by poking the holes. The cavities are caused by the acid produced by bacteria which in turn live on plaque and tartar or old food residue. Once the decay starts, just poking the cavities with a dental explorer cannot make it worse. It is necessary to do that to diagnose small decay which can be missed if explorer is not used.

NO: The cavities are holes in your teeth to start with. "poking" may seem to may them bigger because the cavity is bigger inside the tooth than what can be seen and unsupported tooth is crumbling.