These are the people whose lives dentists save. A couple every week of his career. They never know what we do for them, unless we tell them, then they don't believe us. The reason we try to see you every six months is to take a couple of x-rays to look for early decay, and intercept it on the way to the pulp of your tooth by a simple filling. Six month intervals make sure even the fastest decay is slower than we are.
Toothaches are utterly preventable.