Possible Fillings on Front Teeth...

[Aradia]

Sooooo I just called the dentist and set up a long-needed appointment to have them do some work on my four front teeth. They're suffering from what the dentist described as 'advanced decay,' but I really can't find anything on the internet about these things so I'm hoping you guys will be able to help.

The damage is at my gumline on all of my teeth but one, and none of them are in pain or anything like that. I just want to get it done before they get any worse. But I've never had fillings on my front teeth before and I'm hearing a lot of mixed stuff...

Are they going to look normal?

How much are they going to drill? (My teeth are so small... I can't imagine them being drilled...)

I read somewhere that I'll likely need crowns? But my dentist didn't say anything about that...

Any help you guys can give me regarding your experiences with fillings on your front teeth would be great.

 

[Ifear]

Hi not sure if its the same
But had my 2 front tooth filled last october without any sedation or local anesthetic.
Its fine and ive gone through this smoothly
And its a tooth colored fillings so no one can tells if you had that tooth filled.

 

[shibboleth]

I have had ALL my front teeth filled, most of them multiple times and for large cavities. I had big cavities at the gum line on the front of my teeth and some on the backs of my teeth where they meet. I am 3/4 of the way through getting all my teeth repaired after several years without a dentist and you would NEVER KNOW the extent of the damage. There is still some discoloration in my teeth, but in a normal setting, my teeth look wonderful, and they feel better than they have in a long time (no more jolts of pain, much less heat/cold sensitivity!).

All the fillings were done with just novocaine shots, no general anesthetic, and no crowns. Just fillings. I don't know the state of your teeth, but dentists can do a lot with composite fillings, and I really think your dentist would tell you if you needed a crown. They do drill a little to fill the cavities, but only enough to take off the decaying tissue. It looks pretty scary if you see your teeth between drilling and filling, but there's really nothing to worry about.

I've been taking pictures of my teeth through my own fillings, and if you want, I can show you what mine looked like before and after filling.

 

[Aradia]

I have had ALL my front teeth filled, most of them multiple times and for large cavities. I had big cavities at the gum line on the front of my teeth and some on the backs of my teeth where they meet. I am 3/4 of the way through getting all my teeth repaired after several years without a dentist and you would NEVER KNOW the extent of the damage. There is still some discoloration in my teeth, but in a normal setting, my teeth look wonderful, and they feel better than they have in a long time (no more jolts of pain, much less heat/cold sensitivity!).

All the fillings were done with just novocaine shots, no general anesthetic, and no crowns. Just fillings. I don't know the state of your teeth, but dentists can do a lot with composite fillings, and I really think your dentist would tell you if you needed a crown. They do drill a little to fill the cavities, but only enough to take off the decaying tissue. It looks pretty scary if you see your teeth between drilling and filling, but there's really nothing to worry about.

I've been taking pictures of my teeth through my own fillings, and if you want, I can show you what mine looked like before and after filling.

That would be great!

I also had another question. What do the composite fillings feel like? Are they smooth like normal teeth, or do they have an obviously-not-tooth feeling to them?

I have a filling on another tooth, in the back, that's HUGE, but I don't know what it's made of so I can't be sure if my front teeth will feel teeth-y or not. Luckily the biggest ones are at the gumline so I'll probably never feel them with the inside of my lip, but one of them is kind of on the center of the tooth so I'm curious.

Just two more days. The anxiety is killing me. I can't wait for it to be over...

 

[shibboleth]

Composite fillings feel very, very similar to if not indistinguishable from real tooth. If there are any sharp or lumpy bits, you can ask them to grind it down some while you're still numb. They may still feel a tiny bit rough or gritty for a couple days, but within the week, normal eating and brushing will smooth them out in my experience and you'll forget they aren't real (not kidding; except for some recent work and few specific fillings I don't know what in my mouth is filling and what's real tooth anymore). The hardest part is probably getting used to the new shape of your teeth, because it won't be exactly the same as your tooth used to be and changes in your mouth feel WAY bigger than they look.

Here are some photos I've taken of my own mouth. My front two teeth were filled years ago, and recent appointments have been to fill from the second incisor to the second premolar. The photos here are of the worst quadrant of my mouth. Keep in mind that my teeth are stained and discolored from years of abuse, and that composite fillings stay the same color as when they're placed- they don't discolor with your teeth, and whitening treatments do not lighten them. So my old fillings are actually lighter than the new ones, because my teeth have unfortunately only gotten yellower.


Before the new fillings. Huge holes in my teeth, some more gruesome than others, but all significant.


Immediately after filling. Like the cavities were never there!


And here's an awkward blurry view of the inside of my front teeth. You can see where the filling is. Doesn't blend in very nicely, but hey- who's looking? And it doesn't feel weird when I run my tongue over it, so it doesn't bother me any.

I hope this helps!

 

[Lucas phobic]

Composite fillings feel very, very similar to if not indistinguishable from real tooth. If there are any sharp or lumpy bits, you can ask them to grind it down some while you're still numb. They may still feel a tiny bit rough or gritty for a couple days, but within the week, normal eating and brushing will smooth them out in my experience and you'll forget they aren't real (not kidding; except for some recent work and few specific fillings I don't know what in my mouth is filling and what's real tooth anymore). The hardest part is probably getting used to the new shape of your teeth, because it won't be exactly the same as your tooth used to be and changes in your mouth feel WAY bigger than they look.

Here are some photos I've taken of my own mouth. My front two teeth were filled years ago, and recent appointments have been to fill from the second incisor to the second premolar. The photos here are of the worst quadrant of my mouth. Keep in mind that my teeth are stained and discolored from years of abuse, and that composite fillings stay the same color as when they're placed- they don't discolor with your teeth, and whitening treatments do not lighten them. So my old fillings are actually lighter than the new ones, because my teeth have unfortunately only gotten yellower.

View attachment 1153
Before the new fillings. Huge holes in my teeth, some more gruesome than others, but all significant.

View attachment 1154
Immediately after filling. Like the cavities were never there!

View attachment 1155
And here's an awkward blurry view of the inside of my front teeth. You can see where the filling is. Doesn't blend in very nicely, but hey- who's looking? And it doesn't feel weird when I run my tongue over it, so it doesn't bother me any.

I hope this helps!

Your dentist has done a good job! Indeed, your fillings are indistinguishable from real tooth. Now your teeth look healthy and are very beautiful. Don't worry, your teeth are not stained and discolored and I cannot notice your old fillings.

 

[Aradia]

Composite fillings feel very, very similar to if not indistinguishable from real tooth. If there are any sharp or lumpy bits, you can ask them to grind it down some while you're still numb. They may still feel a tiny bit rough or gritty for a couple days, but within the week, normal eating and brushing will smooth them out in my experience and you'll forget they aren't real (not kidding; except for some recent work and few specific fillings I don't know what in my mouth is filling and what's real tooth anymore). The hardest part is probably getting used to the new shape of your teeth, because it won't be exactly the same as your tooth used to be and changes in your mouth feel WAY bigger than they look.

Here are some photos I've taken of my own mouth. My front two teeth were filled years ago, and recent appointments have been to fill from the second incisor to the second premolar. The photos here are of the worst quadrant of my mouth. Keep in mind that my teeth are stained and discolored from years of abuse, and that composite fillings stay the same color as when they're placed- they don't discolor with your teeth, and whitening treatments do not lighten them. So my old fillings are actually lighter than the new ones, because my teeth have unfortunately only gotten yellower.

View attachment 1153
Before the new fillings. Huge holes in my teeth, some more gruesome than others, but all significant.

View attachment 1154
Immediately after filling. Like the cavities were never there!

View attachment 1155
And here's an awkward blurry view of the inside of my front teeth. You can see where the filling is. Doesn't blend in very nicely, but hey- who's looking? And it doesn't feel weird when I run my tongue over it, so it doesn't bother me any.

I hope this helps!

Thank you for sharing! And I agree with the post above me that your dentist did a marvelous job and your teeth look perfect! I can only hope mine will also turn out as pretty.

im glad to hear they feel and look indistinguishable and hopefully the changes to the shape of my tooth won't be too drastic. Tomorrow is the big day and I'm still very very nervous and scared of the drill and the like, but I have hopes at least that the end product will be worth the suffering. My teeth are my biggest source of anxiety in the past three years or so, I'd love to be one step closer to putting some of that behind me. The damage actually looks a lot like yours did so I'm hoping the result will be similar.

thanks again everyone for your help! Uhhhh hopefully tomorrow I'll be back with a success story?

 

[comfortdentist]

Thanks for sharing your photos. Do you understand how you developed these cavities?
What all have you changed to avoid more?
What haven't you changed?

 

[Aradia]

Hey gang. So I went to the dentist this morning and he filled two of my teeth.

The numbness is finally starting to wear off. They look really good, but, my tooth feels really... big? A lot higher up than I'm used to, I feel like I can feel it pushing up on my lip. I hope that's nothing. There's also some roughness on the backs of the teeth that were filled, I'm hoping that goes away with normal eating/brushing, and, if it doesn't, I can always tell the dentist about it when I go back on the 14th.

I'm kind of glad we didn't get it all done in one day. It would've been way more trauma at once than I think I could normally deal with. I started to get some feeling back near the end, but didn't say anything because I was afraid I was going to have to get another injection, which was just as painful as the pain I was feeling, haha.

Two more teeth to go, and the dentist found another cavity that I need taken care of. Hopefully it can wait a little while, at least until the last few months of the year. I don't have insurance so all of this is being paid out of pocket.

 

[shibboleth]

I'm very glad to hear that your appointment went well!!

Thanks for sharing your photos. Do you understand how you developed these cavities?
What all have you changed to avoid more?
What haven't you changed?

six solid years of heavy Pepsi consumption to compensate for lack of sleep isn't terribly good for one's teeth. Neither is being unemployed, broke, uninsured, and depressed.

I graduated from college, got some sleep, quit the pepsi, a year later miraculously found work, which did wonders for the depression and money problems, and with work came insurance- so I could finally go to the dentist again.

 

[Aradia]

So... it's been a few days since I had the fillings put in, and...

Is it supposed to keep hurting this long?

I can barely smile or laugh because when I do, it hurts, like my gums are being tugged on. The same when I push my nose. If I touch it with my tongue it stings so bad my eyes water...

And it also feels like there's a lot of space between my teeth, if I touch my tongue to the backs of my teeth I can feel like... bubbles... going between my teeth.

My teeth were in bad shape but they weren't painful, so now I wish I hadn't let the dentist touch them, I've been hurting a lot since Wednesday. It hurts to eat, hurts to make faces, hurts to do anything more than just sit here with my mouth closed.

I don't want to go back, I hate this.

 

[shibboleth]

First off- congratulations for going and getting the fillings!

It's completely normal for teeth to hurt for up to two weeks after getting fillings. You may be numb during the procedure, but drilling, etc can irritate your gums and teeth and cause some swelling and irritation to the nerve root. That's what my dentist told me, anyway! And the pain you're describing in your gums/nose is likely from the novocaine injection if they did the really nasty one that goes up towards your nose, which will also take some time to heal.

Definitely voice your concerns to your dentist. They don't want you suffering any more than you do. But I think you should also be willing to give it a few more days to heal. NSAIDs like ibuprofen help a lot; ibuprofen in particular is good for tooth pain and inflammation. And you can alternate between ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

Good luck!

 

[Mackenzie28]

Hi there

I have had a small filling on the back of one of my front teeth and though it is pretty smooth - the feeling is driving me nuts- how long til you felt that there was not a feeling there when you ate? My teeth have been okay for ages and it was a chip that caused this filling.

Thanks


Charlotte

 

[Mackenzie28]

Hi there

Are your front teeth still okay? I had a small filling done on my front tooth and it has ruined my life since. I keep rubbing my tongue along it - it is at the top where a small chip broke off. I cannot sleep or eat properly and have turned into a nervous wreck as hate the feeling of it. It has been several weeks and am scared I will lose the plot completely with it.

Thanks


Charlotte