Toothache after filling

[Mike0]

Hi

A couple of years back, when I was working in South Africa, a piece of tooth from the corner of a molar tooth broke off. The dentist took out the existing amalgam filling from the centre of the tooth and refilled that with white (resin?) at the same time rebuilding the part of the tooth that had broken off. The tooth worked fine immediately and I don’t recall any pain or other problems.

Now back in the UK, a couple of weeks back, the same thing happened to the same molar on the opposite side of my mouth. The dentists did the same thing i.e. removed the old amalgam etc., etc and remarked don’t use the tooth for a couple of days and also that it might be sore for a couple of days. As soon as the anaesthetic wore off I had toothache (prior to the filling I had no toothache just sensitivity). I took paracetamol for the first few days and it did the trick. I’ve had a dull toothache extending from the tooth to my lower jaw and up the side of my head since. It’s not unbearable and sometimes it’s almost gone but if use the tooth to eat even the softest food it’s back. Looking through the net one of the things I’ve read is the suggestion that the amalgam fillings are less likely or the resin filling are more likely to cause this problem. Should I ask for the resin filling to be removed and replaced with amalgam? At what stage (how many days) should I wait to give the toothache a chance of going away without taking any further action/treatment. Should I keep taking paracetamol whilst I’m waiting for it to get better?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice

Mike

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Thank you for your post.

If a filling is very deep and very close to the pulp of the tooth, there is a chance that there will be pain afterwards regardless of type of filling.

I usually say to patients to allow a few weeks for the pain to settle down but if the pain escalates or does not settle down, then there is a chance that the pulp may have developed irreversible pulpitis and in that situation no amount of waiting or taking painkillers can deal with the problem and the tooth will need root canal treatment.

I would recommend that you go back to see your dentist for a review of this tooth if the pain does not settle down or gets worst as it may need root canal treatment.