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Root canal needed in tooth with silver filling

P

prayerworks

Junior member
Joined
Feb 28, 2016
Messages
9
I have another question. It seems I will need to do a root canal on the upper second premolar and it has silver fillings in that tooth already. Has anyone on here had to have a root canal in a tooth that has the silver Mercury filling? I am freaking out here. On the other side I had an extraction three weeks ago and I am afraid that pieces of the silver filling will go into the healing socket. I know I sound paranoid but I am freaking out here. Please talk to me.
 
Hi,

most dentists use during a root canal treatment a device called "rubber dam" which isolates the treated tooth from the rest of the mouth. The rubber dam will guaranty full protection to the extraction site.
you could also wait a bit longer (5 weeks after the extraction) so that the healing process is finished and the extraction site is completely sealed.
 
I just had this done actually last month. I had a giant silver filling in a tooth that ended up damaged and needing a root canal. My dentist did use a dental dam to seclude the tooth that was being worked on, so that nothing could fall into my mouth. If the dentist uses great cleaning techniques, you shouldn't get any silver into your body - plus there is such little silver that comes into contact with your body, it will not do any damage (a lot of the information online about being poisoned by silver is b.s.). My dentist did say to just keep my eyes closed (they have since started giving us protective glasses to wear), but otherwise no worries.

The drilling might be a little more intense than what you may have gone through - my dentist had to use this odd tool that a strong grinding pressure/sound, but just really felt strange, not painful. Not sure if that was due to the silver filling or the tooth, but she hasn't had to use it on my before then.

All is well - nothing really different from my other root canals :)
 
Hi,most dentists use during a root canal treatment a device called "rubber dam" which isolates the treated tooth from the rest of the mouth. The rubber dam will guaranty full protection to the extraction site.you could also wait a bit longer (5 weeks after the extraction) so that the healing process is finished and the extraction site is completely sealed.
I would wait but the tooth has a minor but constant ache and when I tap it with my finger it is sensitive. I am hoping the filling just needs to be replaced and that I do not need a root canal. The rubber dam makes me gag and feel like I am chocking.
 
You can ask your dentist to cover the extraction site with a wet gauze. That should keep it protected from foreign bodies.
 
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