V
VolatileVoid
Junior member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2009
- Messages
- 6
Hi -
I'm a first-time poster, but have lurked for a few days now. It seems like people are genuinely helpful here, so I hope someone can offer some advice.
The Neverending Story of a Molar
About 5-6 months ago, I went to my dentist with some annoying pain in my upper left molar (#14, from what I can tell by looking at charts online). He found that the filling was loose and replaced the composite filling with an amalgam. His general feeling was that composites don't do such a great job on back teeth (he wasn't the dentist that originally put in the composite filling - but that's a story for another time), and he much prefers amalgams on them.
I had some problems with that filling -- it didn't seem to want to settle down, and was always sensitive to cold -- but I ignored it for a few months. I went to go see my dentist again last Wednesday because that tooth had been bothering me for a few weeks. It wasn't terrible pain, but it was noticeable and it was bothering me.
He took some X-Rays, saw no sign of infection. Did a percussion test by tapping on the tooth, no pain. Blew cold air in the pocket between #14 and #13, and found the problematic spot. At the same time he spotted a small cavity in #15. (Incidentally, at the same time, he found a very small cavity in #31 as well).
He decided that since the filling in #14 was still bothering me, he'd redo the filling. He also filled #15 and #31.
He filled all the cavities with amalgam fillings.
Since then I've been sore. It's not just sensitivity to cold - but also just a general feeling of soreness, or the occasional throb of pain from the top of my mouth (where he filled 14 and 15). He did mention that I might be sore and that that's normal, but I'm getting concerned that an infection may be forming.
I really do trust this dentist a lot. I've had some really awful experiences where dentists would change perfectly good fillings because they were amalgams, or do more work than was necessary. One dentist did so on a very large filling and wound up causing an abscess. The dentist I use now is very conservative and tries to avoid doing any unnecessary procedures whenever he can.
Is it normal to have soreness and spontaneous pain from recently filled teeth? How soon would it go away?
I am seeing this dentist on this coming Monday (the 9th) for a general checkup and cleaning, but I'm nervous about running into horrible pain before then...
Thanks!
I'm a first-time poster, but have lurked for a few days now. It seems like people are genuinely helpful here, so I hope someone can offer some advice.
The Neverending Story of a Molar
About 5-6 months ago, I went to my dentist with some annoying pain in my upper left molar (#14, from what I can tell by looking at charts online). He found that the filling was loose and replaced the composite filling with an amalgam. His general feeling was that composites don't do such a great job on back teeth (he wasn't the dentist that originally put in the composite filling - but that's a story for another time), and he much prefers amalgams on them.
I had some problems with that filling -- it didn't seem to want to settle down, and was always sensitive to cold -- but I ignored it for a few months. I went to go see my dentist again last Wednesday because that tooth had been bothering me for a few weeks. It wasn't terrible pain, but it was noticeable and it was bothering me.
He took some X-Rays, saw no sign of infection. Did a percussion test by tapping on the tooth, no pain. Blew cold air in the pocket between #14 and #13, and found the problematic spot. At the same time he spotted a small cavity in #15. (Incidentally, at the same time, he found a very small cavity in #31 as well).
He decided that since the filling in #14 was still bothering me, he'd redo the filling. He also filled #15 and #31.
He filled all the cavities with amalgam fillings.
Since then I've been sore. It's not just sensitivity to cold - but also just a general feeling of soreness, or the occasional throb of pain from the top of my mouth (where he filled 14 and 15). He did mention that I might be sore and that that's normal, but I'm getting concerned that an infection may be forming.
I really do trust this dentist a lot. I've had some really awful experiences where dentists would change perfectly good fillings because they were amalgams, or do more work than was necessary. One dentist did so on a very large filling and wound up causing an abscess. The dentist I use now is very conservative and tries to avoid doing any unnecessary procedures whenever he can.
Is it normal to have soreness and spontaneous pain from recently filled teeth? How soon would it go away?
I am seeing this dentist on this coming Monday (the 9th) for a general checkup and cleaning, but I'm nervous about running into horrible pain before then...
Thanks!
Last edited: