DENTIST...question re new filling

[noonar]

i had an old filling replaced last week as a chunk of it fell out. the tooth wasnt bothering me before i had it 'fixed', but now it's v sensitive, esp to cold drinks.

now, it was a new dentist who did the work, so am a bit concerned. also, i went to him 3 weeks earlier, to put a temp filling in the same tooth. the temp filling fell out after less than 24 hrs!

is it an over reaction to change dentist?

any ideas why my tooth is like this?

i also felt v woozy after the local anaesthetic- never had this before.

am not sure that i want HIM to fix my tooth!

It's not unusual for a tooth to be sensative after a filling. It can take a while to settle. Te nerve can get 'upset' with all the fiddling around. If the temp filling fell out a while before the new filling was put in, you shouls have had it replaced, as leaving it unfilled can cause sensativity anyway.

Temp fillings are just that, unfortunately temp can be 24 hours or 24 days. It's not really a fair reflection on the dentist, these materials are made so they don't adhere permanently to the tooth so they are easier to remove when need be.

The woozieness, did you eat? often having a local with no food can make you feel horrible. It may be that you were just lying to far down & needed to adjust to being upright again. Or maybe you had a reaction ot the LA, no unusual either. But the dentist wouldn't have caused this, unless he knew you were sensative to a type of LA & gave you that.

thanks sandcastles

how long should it be before the sensitivity goes? it's been a week.

i had eaten before having the local. i think it was more than just lying down/ getting up . i didnt feel happy about driving home till an hour or so later.

also, as you seem to be a bit of an expert..my friend said it might not have been filled properly, and that an exposed nerve could cause the discomfort. what dyou think?

With the local, I would mention that to the dentist nxt time you see him, maybe it doesn't agree with you.

It can take a few weeks to settle tbh. It depends how deep it is. If it wasn't filled correctly & the nerve was exposed, you WOULD know about it! You would have more than just cold sens. You would get hot/cold/sweet sens & pain on biting.

(Btw, I was a dental nurse before I had dd)

i do get a sensation with sweet foods as well, actually, which i thought was too odd to mention! not real pain, but a strong twinge.

will give it a couple of weeks

I would give it a while longer. If it starts to get worse then deff see your dentist.

I do not have the expertise of sandcastle but I have been tot he dentist a lot recently. I am still having a lot of sensitivity with the tooth after a few days and this is always the case - oftent eh site where the injection went in feels a little bruised - it always seemes to settle down in the end. As for temporary fillings I had one that fell out the day after - I think they have to be able to get them out and sometimes if you cathc them inthe wrong way they come out.

I consider my dentist to be absloutley wonderful - he has really helped with my teeth and came to me highly recommended. I have had simliar things to you but I have not thoguht they were a relfection on him as a dentist, just the consequence of dental work. However, if you are worried ask him and if you are still not happy with his answers and you don't feel confident you need to change as however good or bad he is if you are not confident dental work will always worry you and it is bad enough without having to worry about it!!!

hahaha just read back the phrase 'I don't have the expertise of sancastles' rather bizarre!

DimpledThighs raises a good point...if you are not happy with him, then you will always be worried. But like she said, she gets sensativity & it settles down...

Hope it feels better soon

lol @ expertise of sandcastles!

thanks... i didnt mean to sound over- critical of my dentist. and you guys have put me sraight on a couple of things.

thing is, i was thinking if changing to a new dentist anyway. my dentist - who was quite far away- retired so it makes no sense to traipse (sp?) across town to see someone i dont even know. anyway, i wanted to give the new one a chance cos its a hassle to swap my DENPLAN over if i change practice.

but having had 2 appointments which havent (yet) sorted tooth out, i'm unsure what to do.

I would see what happens & then make a choice.

A couple of things to think about....

You say you are on denplan, not all practices have denplan.

Was it an amaglam (silver) filling? If so then amalgam, being a metal is a conductor, so it will, for a while conduct cold sensations through the tooth. Once the filing has settled (and I mean literally settles, as there will be a microscopic space between the filling and the tooth (which is normal, just the nature of the filling) the fillin will compact & harden & thus no longer will conduct. I had this about a year ago, terrible sensativity for 2 weeks...then just went almost overnight.

its actually a white filling, so conductivity not relevant??

will give it time to settle. am not in a hurry to rush back to the dentist!

It would conduct to an extent, I feel it is worth maybe giving a bit longer. See how you feel.