Our Calgary dentists describe some of the most common problems that can occur with dental fillings, and what you can do to manage them.
Fillings are a common type of dental restoration, and while with proper care they don’t usually cause any problems, there are certain issues that crop up. The following are the most common ones.
Pain Around the Filling
There are a few different types of pain that you may experience around your dental filling.
Tenderness After Treatment
Immediately after your filling procedure, you may have some sensitivity and tenderness in the area. This type of pain can last for up to two weeks after the procedure. If the pain persists any longer than that, you should book a follow-up appointment with your dentist.
Pain When You Bite
This type of pain happens when you bite down, and is usually the result of the filling interfering with your bite. This means that you should return to your dentist’s office to have the filling reshaped.
Pain When Two Restorations Touch
If you experience a very sharp pain that occurs only when your new fillings touches another restoration, it is likely the result of the different metal surfaces interacting with each other (for example, the silver amalgam in a newly filled tooth touching a gold crown on another tooth). This pain should resolve on its own within a short period of time.
Toothache Pain
If the decay in the tooth is deeper than initially thought, the dental filling may not have been enough to repair it. This type of pain may indicate the need for a root canal.
Referred Pain
You may find that you experience pain in the teeth surrounding the one that was filled. This happens when the filled tooth passes along pain signals to the other teeth. While this is a strange sensation, it is not serious, and should resolve itself within a couple of weeks of your procedure.
Deterioration of the Filling
Regular daily wear and tear from grinding chewing, or clenching can cause dental fillings to chip, crack or simply break down over time.
If the seal between the filling and the enamel of your tooth breaks down, food particles and bacteria can work their way in under the filling, and cause additional decay to form.
In some cases, the filling will fall out completely, and will need to be replaced.