Fear of unnecessary dental procedure

[Former member 38909]

If a natural buccal pit with no decay was big enough for food to enter. Did the dentist do the right thing giving me a composite filling immediately instead of alternative options?

I have a longer, more detailed version of this story in the Support forum but I lost trust in the dentist and I'm terrified a healthy molar was drilled for nothing. I'm also terrified that the dentist has started a cycle that will lead to a bigger and bigger hole until more intense treatment is inevitable down the line.

Please help clarify if you can. I'm losing sleep over it.

 

[Gordon]

You don't have much tooth substance between a deep buccal pit and the pulp, if there was some decay already present (and unfortunately nobody on here can say if it was or wasn't) then it could progress into a fairly complex situation fairly quickly.

A well done composite on someone with a reasonable diet should comfortably last a lifetime.

 

[Former member 38909]

@Gordon Thank you very much for your response. It's very helpful and reassuring.

Unfortunately, I'll never really know for sure regarding the decay because the dentist didn't really communicate much. I know there was a visible hole, and I know tiny balls of food could enter inside and I had to make sure I used a toothbrush to get them out.

I got paranoid because everytime I looked it up it said composite fillings could only last 5 - 10 years. So I started thinking even if I had a good diet and hygiene, multiple necessary replacements over a lifetime would inevitably lead to more intense work like root canals or crowns.

 

[Gordon]

There's an old Public Health saying that you can't apply a population wide statistic to an individual, the same goes for composite fillings, an area of low wear like a buccal surface should last much longer than a very large filling on the chewing surfaces.

 

[Former member 38909]

@Gordon I'll try to keep this in mind when I'm feeling anxious. I've never liked the dentist so the experience of being drilled without proper communication made things a lot worse.