I am 50 years old and have only had 3 small cavities in my liftime. I recently relocated and went to a new dentist. It had been 8 months since my last cleaning. She found 2 new cavities and filled them about 6 weeks ago. I immediately had some pain issues and went back for a bite adjustment. It didn’t get better and I had an intense pain reaction to both cold and heat. She removed the new composite filling and an older amalgam filling in the adjacent tooth and refilled both. The intense pain is gone but it still hurts to floss a month later and is sensitive to cold. They keep telling me to wait it out a little longer and try Sensodyne. Reading the blogs here about infections has me worried. Should I try a new dentist or just relax and don’t worry if the pain isn’t extreme? I’m not sure what “normal” is as I’ve never had any reaction to a filling at all.
- Alice from New Hampshire
Alice,
It sounds like your dentist certainly had some trouble with these fillings! I don’t know if this is the case or not, but I just wanted to mention that many dentists have trouble with white fillings on back teeth. The technique often isn’t taught in dental school, and they assume it’s the same as for white fillings on front teeth. But it actually requires specialized training to place these properly. And many times what happens is that there is a great deal of sensitivity afterwards.
White fillings should have zero or very little post-operative sensitivity if they’re done right. But at this point, it may not be wise to work on these teeth again. If the teeth are slowly getting better, then I would leave the situation alone. That’s your key. If they’re getting worse at all, then you want to be looked at. But if they’re getting better, even if the progress is slow, I’d leave it alone.
Related links:
Cleveland cosmetic dentist
Cleveland dental implants
Cost of lumineers