Questions after fillings

[jen.louise]

So my anxiety seems to be continuing, I thought it would be fine once my appointment was out of the way. I had 2 amalgam fillings done on Thursday. I'd had no problems with the teeth before the fillings, so was surprised when the dentist told me that both cavities were "very deep". After doing all the drilling (which seemed to go on forever!) she put some kind of medicated base in the teeth before putting the amalgam on top. She told me that both fillings were very deep, so I would have sensitivity and would probably need to take painkillers for a couple of days. She also gave me some sensodyne toothpaste to rub on the teeth to reduce the sensitivity.

Thing is, I hadn't had ANY pain or sensitivity in the teeth since the fillings were done which I though was a bit weird, and then I started worrying that maybe the nerves in the teeth are dead which is why I'm not having any pain or something like that? Is that possible?

The fillings feel quite rough as well when I run my tongue over them - is that normal? Will they smooth out as I eat and brush them?

Final thing is that one of the teeth had distal and occlusal decay. I'm a medical professional and was very anxious about getting the fillings so I did as much research as I could before the appointment. It seemed to me to be a class II cavity, and all the videos etc I watched about restoring a class II cavity used a matrix band, but when I had the fillings the dentist didn't use a matrix band. I'm sure she knows what she is doing, I just
wondered why she might not have used one?

Sorry, I'm being a bit obsessive, I just need to know that everything is normal so that I can put it out of my head until my next check up in 6 months.....

 

[Edi6]

I'd take the lack of sensitivity as a good thing really. I've never really had sensitivity or pain from teeth after fillings, just pain from where they did the injections, so it's not a rule that you should have pain.

As for the nerves being dead, I don't know how dentists can actually tell this without doing diagnostic tests (X-rays, temperature tests etc) but I think usually you would have pain while the tooth is starting to die, so again the lack of sensitivity is probably a good thing.

 

[rob wain]

Hi, that all sounds pretty normal and OK to me. Your dentist was warning you about a possibility of pain. Not having pain is just fine and doesn't imply a dead nerve.

 

[dental_blogger]

The material that was placed in your tooth before the amalgam (silver) filling material was placed, acts like a buffer between the nerve and the amalgam. It keeps the filling material from irritating the pulp tissue. (Commonly used in deep fillings) Without this liner, the nerve becomes irritated and could cause the nerve to die. This base/liner works to help soothe the nerve and protect it from the filling material.

The nerve in the tooth is not dead. When a nerve begins to die in a tooth, it's uncomfortable. You would have had sensitivity in the tooth at the very least. When a nerve dies in a tooth, you would have a toothache, sometimes a severe toothache. The fact that you aren't feeling sensitivity in the tooth after the filling was placed does not mean the nerve has died. If the nerve was dead, you would have needed a root canal before the filling was placed. If the nerve was irritated or damaged during the procedure, the tooth would be painful. No sensitivity just simply means that the liner/medicated base is doing its job and that the tooth is reacting well to having a filling placed.