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Dental Work for the First time

S

Sephy

Junior member
Joined
Nov 15, 2018
Messages
10
Hello!
I am 25, terrified of the dentist and up untill now i have never had any dental work done apart from scale and polish.

I complained about one of my teeth (molar before wisdom tooth on upper left) and was told there was nothing he could see.

Fast forward two years and i changed dentist out of desperation, he did an xray on either side, i had never had an x ray on my teeth before and i now need to have four fillings, two deep on upper molars either side of mouth and two shallow, lower molars either side.

I have no idea what to expect. Im paranoid i may have an abcys as i keep googling symptoms


Does it hurt? Would he have seen an abycys on the xray? Am i making too much out of this? Everyone that i tell about having four fillings at once seems to recoil in horror.

Im really concerned.
 
Hello!
I am 25, terrified of the dentist and up untill now i have never had any dental work done apart from scale and polish.

I complained about one of my teeth (molar before wisdom tooth on upper left) and was told there was nothing he could see.

Fast forward two years and i changed dentist out of desperation, he did an xray on either side, i had never had an x ray on my teeth before and i now need to have four fillings, two deep on upper molars either side of mouth and two shallow, lower molars either side.

I have no idea what to expect. Im paranoid i may have an abcys as i keep googling symptoms


Does it hurt? Would he have seen an abycys on the xray? Am i making too much out of this? Everyone that i tell about having four fillings at once seems to recoil in horror.

Im really concerned.

Four fillings may seem like a lot, but think of it this way. Each tooth has (I think) 5 surfaces on which to form cavities. Multiply that 28 without wisdom teeth and that is 140 possible surfaces. I had about 20 fillings done in one sitting under sedation on 7 teeth. The only people who know about it are people I tell, because my teeth look completely normal now after the extensive work. You will be just fine!

And if they found an abscess they likely would have prescribed you antibiotics. Thankfully I have not experienced one but I've read that they are immensely painful and if you had one you would know! Even the smallest cut, irritation, etc on the gums can cause significant pain. Rinsing with warm salt water can help with that if that is something that is bothering you. Good luck at your next appointment. You can do it!
 
Thank you for that, i had not thought about it in that sense, i was more concerned that when i saw the xray for my two deep cavities it just appears to be most of the tooth that is grey which i am told is the cavity.

It is more fear of the unknown. My colleagues at work keep telling me that the injections are really going to hurt and that the drilling is very painful and this coupled with my anxiety of the dentist is getting me worked up.
 
Hi Sephy,

one of the basic discomforts / fears people have is the fear of unknown. If never had a filling, it is not unusual if you feel apprehensive about it. It might seem as a huge complicated thing but it isn't believe me. Sadly, the most people come up with bad and scary stories when the topic of dentist arises. If people seem to recoil in horror i only shows that they had a bad experience in their past and that has nothing to do with you.

Back to your fillings. There is a very well written article that tells you what to expect when getting a filling:
https://www.dentalfearcentral.org/faq/fillings/

Now to your abscess. It is always good to remember that your dentist had spend a lot of years studying dentistry which includes deep knowledge about things going on human body as well as very deep knowledge about everything that can happen in your mouth - all the medical issues included. Your dentist also has years of experience in diagnosing and treating different issues. An abscess is a result of an untreated infection which is a result of decay having reached a particular depth (and results in a lot of pain). It is easy to see such an infection on x-rays and there is a different treatment for it than a filling. In general, if you feel any insecurities about wether what your dentist told you is true or wether he had overlooked anything, it might be a good idea to ask him. He will surely be happy to give you more information.

4 fillings are not much, as Animalhouse suggests, I can however understand that it might feel overwhelming as you never had such a procedure before. We all on this forum had learned that the only thing googling does is giving you wrong and scary information so if you can, do not google or try one of the reliable neutral sources - you can find some links in the "Links" section here on the page.

All the best wishes and keep us posted
 
Hi Sephy,

one of the basic discomforts / fears people have is the fear of unknown. If never had a filling, it is not unusual if you feel apprehensive about it. It might seem as a huge complicated thing but it isn't believe me. Sadly, the most people come up with bad and scary stories when the topic of dentist arises. If people seem to recoil in horror i only shows that they had a bad experience in their past and that has nothing to do with you.

Back to your fillings. There is a very well written article that tells you what to expect when getting a filling:
https://www.dentalfearcentral.org/faq/fillings/

Now to your abscess. It is always good to remember that your dentist had spend a lot of years studying dentistry which includes deep knowledge about things going on human body as well as very deep knowledge about everything that can happen in your mouth - all the medical issues included. Your dentist also has years of experience in diagnosing and treating different issues. An abscess is a result of an untreated infection which is a result of decay having reached a particular depth (and results in a lot of pain). It is easy to see such an infection on x-rays and there is a different treatment for it than a filling. In general, if you feel any insecurities about wether what your dentist told you is true or wether he had overlooked anything, it might be a good idea to ask him. He will surely be happy to give you more information.

4 fillings are not much, as Animalhouse suggests, I can however understand that it might feel overwhelming as you never had such a procedure before. We all on this forum had learned that the only thing googling does is giving you wrong and scary information so if you can, do not google or try one of the reliable neutral sources - you can find some links in the "Links" section here on the page.

All the best wishes and keep us posted


Thank you. I know i should not google but ny curiosity gets the best of me.

Should a cavity hurt? Google says no but when i occasionally get food stuck there, one deep cavity is between teeth, it hurts blindingly. Past that its more of a very very dull ache making me aware its there but that could be psychological pain due to the stress.
 
Thank you. I know i should not google but ny curiosity gets the best of me.

Should a cavity hurt? Google says no but when i occasionally get food stuck there, one deep cavity is between teeth, it hurts blindingly. Past that its more of a very very dull ache making me aware its there but that could be psychological pain due to the stress.

If a cavity hurts depends, for example on how deep and where the decay is. If you look up the tooth anatomy, you will get an idea. The deeper the decay is the more probable it is that you will have pain so in the first stages you might not even know you have it, after some time you might be aware now and then and in the very acute stages you might have a lot of pain.
 
If a cavity hurts depends, for example on how deep and where the decay is. If you look up the tooth anatomy, you will get an idea. The deeper the decay is the more probable it is that you will have pain so in the first stages you might not even know you have it, after some time you might be aware now and then and in the very acute stages you might have a lot of pain.

Yeah he was concerned about the two deep ones but said that they needed filling which should rule out a rootcanal or abcys.

My other two fillings i need doing were literally specks on the xray so i assume they are just starting.
 
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Had the procedure done today, ended up having 6 injections as my left side was really sensitive to cold when he was drilling. He filled all four cavitys with the 'white' filling. He said they are better for deeper cavititys.

Is it normal for my fillings to feel weird? They feel slightly rough on the side of the tooth but i'm assuming that this will wear down over time as he has already polished them 3 times during the procedure.

I'm assuming that after a week or so my tongue will forget they exist and stop trying to prod them.



I hated every second of it.
 
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Hi,
After a few days you wont even know they are there, they smooth off and i guess you just get used to them.
I had ‘double figures’ of fillings done in 1 go once (17 years worth) but it was done under sedation...
Afterwards they felt terrible and very sensitive.
After a few days all was good with the world, never happier!
 
Hello again,

Getting used to the fillings now however ive just had a micro piece/grain of filling in my mouth. Like a grain of sand sized flake. Is this normal 6 days after having them done?
 
Hi Sephy.. hm.. not sure about this, are you sure it was the filling material? If the tooth looks and feels ok then I wouldn't worry too much about it. Do the fillings feel better by now?
 
Hi Sephy.. hm.. not sure about this, are you sure it was the filling material? If the tooth looks and feels ok then I wouldn't worry too much about it. Do the fillings feel better by now?

I can barely notice the fillings now even though two of them are deep and extensive. I guess my mouth has got used to them.

Whatever tiny particle that was in my mouth the other day was glassy in texture. I've had no pain aside from cold sensitivity in all of them but that's only brief and meant to be common for a few tweaks
 
So since Christmas I've had chronic pain in one of the teethvthat had a deep filling and the pain has extended to the whole side of my face. The pain is worse in the morning though does not hurt when I bite down or eat.

I've booked another appointment for the 5th of February.

Any idea what is causing the pain? It can't be more decay surely. The filling has been in place just over a month!

Would appreciate an answer as I'm fearing the worst.
 
Perhaps the nerve is irritated. Mine was like that too. I had a very deep filling and it was fine until about 5 months later and I started getting cold and then hot sensitivity. I also had the chronic pain on that side of my face that would go away with ibuprofen.

If the pain is not getting better but getting worse, I think you should call and see the dentist earlier. The dentist can run tests to check the vitality of the tooth and see if it's a root canal problem.
 
I will get pains in my teeth from clenching my jaw at night when I sleep. Sometimes the pain can be quite bad from clenching and it will cause certain teeth to hurt, and sometimes it gets bad enough that half my face will hurt. For me, its usually the back molars that hurt the worse since they're closest the jaw joint (I'm sure there is a more technical term!). Fingers crossed its an easy fix for you. Please keep us updated and let us know what the dentist says x
 
Deep fillings will often hurt for up to 8 weeks, according to my dentist. One of my deep fillings did end up needing a root canal. That is not as bad as it sounds. I was terrified to get my first one, and afterward was thinking it wasn't so bad as what I had imagined. Our imaginations can get us in so much trouble!
 
I was thinking it might end up as a root canal. The pain from the filling died down after 3 weeks but then flared up again. It can't be more decay surely but hopefully it might just be the 8 week period you mentioned.

It does not hurt to bite down or eat. Very slightly sensitive to cold but it's a deep filling so can be expected.
 
I was thinking it might end up as a root canal. The pain from the filling died down after 3 weeks but then flared up again. It can't be more decay surely but hopefully it might just be the 8 week period you mentioned.

It does not hurt to bite down or eat. Very slightly sensitive to cold but it's a deep filling so can be expected.

I hope it settles down for you! My dentist also told me that the pain from a dying nerve would b a throbbing pain. My experience hasn't been the norm, though. On my top molar that needed a root canal, it was a stabbing pain that would come and go, with no stimulus. It was not sensitive to heat or cold. On my lower molar, it was a dull aching that was constant. It never went away, and pain meds would take the edge off but not relieve it. It hurt along my entire jaw and the surrounding teeth hurt. It took 3 months before it tested as needing a root canal, and then it had lingering pain after it was tested with cold.

My sister had a deep filling a few months ago and had pain for about 5 weeks, then it settled. Her tooth is still really sensitive to cold.
 

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