is the filling safe?

[brewer734]

Hi
could any dentist please tell me if my new filling in my front tooth is safe to eat on? My dentist had to drill quite a big hole in my front tooth then filled it it looks great but im still too scared to eat on it my dentist said i could but is it really safe i havnt eaten on it for 8 yrs and i darent bite anything incase it falls out?
any help greatly appreciated
love emma

 

[olanda]

I can't answer from personal experience but my mum has a *huge* white filling in her front tooth that's been there for years. She eats on this tooth normally, treats it as if it were any other tooth, and it functions happily just as if it were any other tooth.
I think you'll be OK!!

 

[brewer734]

Thanks guys i still daren't eat on it its took me so long to get it fixed that im terrified that it will drop out or something!!!
I know yr right though it must be safe
love emma

 

[brewer734]

Hi again
sorry im really nervous about this filling i know its probaly ok but it took me so long to have it done so i have a couple of questions
1. Is it normal for the tooth thats just been filled to feel a bit sensitive and tingly mainly with hot and cold things?
2. Is it safe to use an electric toothbrush on it its one of those oral b triumph ones im scared of knocking the fillling out.
any help is great im just nervous of it all the time!!!
emma

 

[GrahamDee]

Emma, I would avoid eating things like very sticky toffee. I have pulled a filling out eating a toffee sweet before. Apart from that, there is nothing much you can't eat with them.

 

[Zzzdentist]

My rule of thumb is that if a filling is weak enough that a patient can pull it out or break it by just eating common foods it wouldn't be strong enough to last that long anyways. The long term success of restorations do depend on a lot of factors (eg. what the dentist has left of the tooth to work with, what the patient eats, grinding habits, etc), but most fillings should be strong enough to withstand day in and day out eating.

That is not to say that all fillings will be strong enough to survive an all you can eat crab leg fest without utensils, but they in general should be tough enough to get through brushing, flossing, eating, etc for the most part. The patient should not be able to dislodge or destroy fillings easily through routine activities.

Think of it like having your old car fixed up. Should it last you for trips to the supermarket and day to day trips to work? Yes, of course. Should you have to avoid driving it on gravel roads and stick only to smoothly paved ashphalt? Not really. It should serve you well once it's repaired, and if it doesn't there's something wrong. As long as you're not going off road and rally car racing in it, it's not unreasonable to think that it should last for a good length of time.

 

[brewer734]

Thanks everyone i feel a bit better about this now its just because I cant remember the last filling i had done and because this is at the front its made me nervous. I dont eat sweets of any kind thanks to suffering anorexia so i know im ok on that side of things but it would be great to be able to bite a sandwich instead of pulling it to pieces first!!!
zzz dentist thanks so much for yr help its really made me feel better there was quite a lot of my front tooth left when my dentist fixed it just a chip in one side really so im hoping this means its quite strong!!
thanks everyone
emma