Can X-rays see decay under silver fillings? Or problems with silver fillings?

[Confusedpatient]

Can X-rays see decay under silver fillings? Or problems with silver fillings?

Hi I visited a dentist for the first time in years. I had to go to a new dentist as we moved since the last time I went. I felt like one tooth in particular was bugging me, one with an old silver filling. After X-rays they went over the problems I had. I was a little overwhelmed by issues with other teeth that After leaving I realized nothing was mentioned of the tooth I felt was hurting. I called back and asked if they minded checking my chart to make sure nothing was wrong with that tooth. They said no it looks fine. My question is basically could there be something wrong with the tooth that is not showing up on X-ray? Such as a problem with the filling. I had another filling crack resulting in me needing a root canal so I'm just worried of something like that happening with this tooth as well.


The dentist also suggested possibly getting a 3d scan done so he could tell if a dark area above a root canal was still or re-infected or if it was simply how it healed. Is this normal? Also if I do choose to go ahead and pay for the scan would it perhaps be able to see decay or any issues with the filling that a traditional X-ray may not?

 

[Aussiewuss]

Re: Can X-rays see decay under silver fillings? Or problems with silver fillings?

I recently went back to the dentist and he looked at some of my fillings and said they need replacing. Others he said need replacing but can wait to see if I'm still grinding my teeth.

He looked at X-rays to make sure of no infection and was happy with what he saw. The two he replaced had no pain whatsoever and is more of a preventitive then fix.

 

[Confusedpatient]

Re: Can X-rays see decay under silver fillings? Or problems with silver fillings?

I recently went back to the dentist and he looked at some of my fillings and said they need replacing. Others he said need replacing but can wait to see if I'm still grinding my teeth.

He looked at X-rays to make sure of no infection and was happy with what he saw. The two he replaced had no pain whatsoever and is more of a preventitive then fix.

I'm glad to hear there were no infections, etc with yours! My dentist says he sees nothing with the particular one bugging me but I'll admit I'm paranoid about it after having two other fillings that fell out/cracked result in root canals. I'm scared something is going on and they won't see it until it's too late and I need another root canal.

I read somewhere that sometimes silver fillings can hide decay on X-rays but again, hoping to figure out if that's true or not!

 

[rob wain]

Re: Can X-rays see decay under silver fillings? Or problems with silver fillings?

Xrays can show decay up under a tooth and they can show cracks in a tooth but the problem is that they don't always show these things.
Next time you're in, mention your symptoms to the dentist and have them take another look at the tooth not just at the xray.
3d Scans can be a real help but they tend not to be very useful for showing decay or indeed anything around fillings (particularly silver amalgam). They will show the full 3d extent of the bone loss above the root canal but not whether it is active or not.

 

[Confusedpatient]

Re: Can X-rays see decay under silver fillings? Or problems with silver fillings?

Xrays can show decay up under a tooth and they can show cracks in a tooth but the problem is that they don't always show these things.
Next time you're in, mention your symptoms to the dentist and have them take another look at the tooth not just at the xray.
3d Scans can be a real help but they tend not to be very useful for showing decay or indeed anything around fillings (particularly silver amalgam). They will show the full 3d extent of the bone loss above the root canal but not whether it is active or not.

Thanks so much for your help, it's appreciated! So a 3d scan would basically serve no purpose in determining if a root canal retreatment would be needed then since it cannot determine if it's active? From how I understood my dentist said he wasn't sure whether the dark spot above the prior root canal was needing retreatment or whether it was just showing darker from how it healed and its fine. If I remember correctly he said "well the tooth looks fine, the root looks fine, it's this dark area above that has me concerned." I'm guess I'm still trying to figure out whether to trust this dentist as its a new dentist in a new town and I really don't know much about him. Would you advise I see another dentist? It would be out of pocket but if this dentist is telling me false information I really do not mind paying a little extra to switch. I'm kind of worried he was wondering if I would need an implant on that tooth and that's why he recommended the 3d scan, although he made no mention of that at all. Sorry for all the questions I'm just trying to make sense of this all and figure out if I should move forward with this dentist or find someone else. Thanks again!

I do have some X-rays although I'm not sure if they are high quality that I could show you dont mind.

one last thing I'll add--they also gave me meds for a sinus infection, not sure if this affects anything with the diagnosing of the possible re treatment on the root canal.