cracked tooth

the problem is this.  i had a filling in my top right molar but it fell out for some reason.  i dont know for how long it had fallen out, well i dont.  i went to see my dentist for a regular checkup and she told me that a filling had fallen out.  she retried redoing the filling but the problem was that i felt sensitivity and she came to the conclusion that root canal would have to be done because the molar cracked and theres nothing more that can be done in my case.  if i had gone to see her right away like a week after the filling had fallen out do you think that the molar would still be cracked or not?  do you think that my molar was cracked in the end because too much time went by with the filling missing or do you believe that even if i had seen her right away after noticing the filling was missing that my molar might have not been cracked because it was caught in time?  can you please tell me.  rsvp.  thank you. 

Hi Bill,

I am assuming the tooth was initially quite decayed? When filling a molar tooth and depending on the amount of the filling that is required, then I would assume a "Matrix Band" was placed around your tooth this helps to close the space and hold the material while it is being light cured,After the light curing (Which hardens the material) the Dentist will remove the band an smooth and polish the filling.

By the way, a Matrix Band, is the metal clamp that is put around the tooth prior to any filling being done. If it is over-tightened this can cause a new filling to crack the tooth on the outside or in very rare cases further down to the roots of the tooth. The chances of this happening is slim, but it is a know fact.

Sometimes the above maybe done 2 or 3 stages, which gives a better adhesion overall. These days, doing just the whole filling in one go does not normally take, this is why it is done in stages and then then ultra-violet light applied each time.

It sounds like the filling fell out at some point, this can happen on the first or second day, until fully hardens. But it is very unusual for a filling to fall out, after which you had no pain. The only thing that would happen here is, the tooth deteriorated over time but had food stopping any sensitivity to the nerve, hence you would not have felt any pain, until the decayed food was removed, by which time the decay would have gone deeper in to the tooth.

Regards,

Les.

no les this is what happened.  the filling was done the first time in 2004/5.  i missed a dental appointment in 2013.  i didnt see my dentist until the following year which was about a year or so later.  during this time the filling fell out but dont know exactly or approximately when.  if i had gone to see my dentist right away after it fell out do you think that i would have averted a cracked molar or not?  rsvp

Hi Bill,

If you seen the dentist as soon as you noticed, it may have prevented the tooth cracking. Normally, if a filling falls out it collects food which breaks down, and usually will give off a foul smelling odour.

Normally, if you notice a filling as fallen out you can get temporary filler from a pharmacy, just to tide you over until you can get to a dentist. I would have thought if it was detected straight away then the cracked tooth would have been avoided.

I don't have dental problems myself, I have 2 plates, medication caused my own teeth to become brittle and just break, but I had a lot of problems having them removed, my jaw bone had to be drilled numerous times.

Regards,

Les. 

i live here in leeds and there are many wonderful dentists here not to say otherwise.............  so then what youre saying is that if i had gone to the dentist right away after the filling had fallen out then there is more than an 80% that my tooth wouldnt have cracked then, is that what youre saying then??????????  rsvp

les are you there?  rsvp.  

Sorry Bill, Yes that would more than likely of been the case. The chances of a tooth cracking after a filling has fallen out, becomes a lot higher because molars are large, the outside can be brittle from where decay is drilled away, and the filling is within.

If the filling dropped out then you would have only had a thin part of the tooth cavity, hence you can even break on just bread which is soft.

Hope you're not in the floods up there in Leeds!

Regards,

Les.

 

lets assume for a moment that my molar filling has just fallen out, at what point do you think that my molar cracked?  would it have been right away or later on at some point gradually of course im assuming?  rsvp. 

have a happy new year!  rsvp. 

Hi Bill,

If had only just happened - it could crack in as low as a few hours, depending on what you eat. If it was a hard product, it would crack I would have thought with very little force. However, if the product you were eating at the time was soft, then it would take a bit longer, possibly to fill up the hole where the filling was. It would crack then from the pressure of the build up of food, this could take a day or more depending on how much you eat in the day.

Anyway, have a Prosperous New Year!

Regards,

Les.

lets say that today my filling fell out and i went to see my dentist tomorrow.  if they have to redrill the same exact spot wont that make the filling deeper and closer to the nerve???????????  rsvp

Hi Bill,

A dentist can only repair a tooth so far, before the reaching the nerve endings. Any sign of sensitivty could be from either a nerve that is very close to where the filling was done originally, but this is normally checked by x-ray prior to filling a tooth.

You also have to take in to account recent developments in the material used for fillings. This was in the news recently, regarding "Dental amalgam fillings" this is the type of filling that is used on NHS patients back teeth, more so on molars. It was found to be causing teeth to decay far more quickly, than white resin fillings.

I assume by now, that the filling material on molars has been changed, since the news report.

As for yourself, it would depend on how large the initial hole was. If a tooth root is close to a filling that had fallen out for a period of time then yes, it would require root treatment. Once this is done, then the sensitivty of that tooth would be gone, all nerves are removed from the tooth roots. If the tooth breaks now, then you may not notice it, unless you felt it break. If it cracks though where root treatment has been done previously, then it may cause an abcess to grow under the tooth or near a dead root. This you can check yourself by applying a little pressure to the tooth, which would cause pain to be felt.

Regards,

Les.

i went to see a new dentist and this is what he told me.  even if i had gone right away, he would have to redrill in the same exact spot which would make it 35% deeper but he would have put a sealant and then the filling and he doesnt know why the other dentist merely put a filling!  i guess each dentist has his/her own discretion how they work.  what do you think?  rsvp

les you there?  rsvp