Driven insane by occlusion issues after fillings - thoughts greatly appreciated (UK)

Apologies in advance for this being so long and potentially confusing. I'll try and keep it as clear and concise as possible and I'd really appreciate anyone's thoughts. I feel like I'm being driven insane here and have thus decided to seek help online.

I'm 25, live in the UK and saw an incompetent dentist for eight years until summer this year. He did a composite filling on my 1st upper left molar three years ago. In June 2018 it became very sensitive and after an x-ray he said that decay had continued in the 1st upper molar and had passed onto the 2nd upper left bicuspid as well. This guy had also botched a repair on my fixed retainer maybe a year before so I decided to get a second opinion and went to another dentist that was recommended to me. The new dentist did various x-rays and told me there was a gap in the existing filling that was done three years ago and that I needed a total of six fillings (including the two I knew already about). Two of these were surface decay that could clearly be seen, but I'd dismissed it as staining as my previous dentist told me they were fine.

The new dentist started by refilling the 1st molar and 2nd bicuspid on the top left (composite fillings). Afterwards I thought the filling felt high, but I stupidly waited a month before going back because I thought it might just need to settle. The teeth were also very sensitive and I didn't think they could handle being filed. My next appointment there was supposed to be for another filling but since the top left hadn't settled, he didn't want to proceed. He filed the top left fillings a little and sent me on my way. At this point the two upper left teeth are sensitive to everything from tap water to a gust of wind and I still feel as though the molar filling is high. I went back a week later to see if he'd file it again, and he did fractionally, but it still felt high.

Now one of the teeth on our treatment plan to be filled was the 1st molar on the bottom left. This tooth felt totally fine before the top two were filled, but it started to ache almost as soon as the top two were done. I figured this must be because the bite was off and it was irritating the decayed tooth on the bottom. I wanted to get the top filed more, but my dentist said that the articulating paper didn't show that it needed to be filed more, so he wouldn't.

I then booked a one-off appointment at a different dentist in the area to get them to check my bite. After an x-ray he said that the two new fillings on the top left were good fillings (yay, I guess) and he filed both of the filled teeth a bit until he seemed content. He told me the filled bicuspid was 'proud' and would probably be a candidate for root canal. The filing was rather unpleasant as the teeth were still very sensitive, but my concern was that if the bite was off the two filled teeth were unlikely to settle, and there was still a fair amount of work needing done to other teeth that was being held up. Annoyingly, the 1st molar filling still felt high after this.

So I went back to my normal dentist a few days later, he didn't notice the teeth had been filed, I didn't plan on telling him I'd been elsewhere. Nothing much came of that appointment, I told him that when I tried to eat on that side it felt like I was chewing a rock and it was uncomfortable. He said something vague about there being a lot going on in that side of my mouth. He sensitivity tested various teeth and we seemed to agree that the filled 1st molar was slowly settling but the 2nd bicuspid wasn't at all and the next step for that was root canal, but we'd wait a little longer. We decided we'd first fill the 1st molar on the bottom left that had been aching considerably since the top two were filled.

I was already somewhat apprehensive about proceeding with the bottom 1st molar filling because I wasn't content with my bite, but I was also worried about the other work being delayed further. I found that I was having to wait about a month to get appointments. I got the bottom 1st molar filled on October 15th and during the procedure he said that the 2nd bicuspid on the bottom left had the beginnings of decay on the surface, so he would smooth that too. When he started to drill he found that the decay extended into the tooth so this session turned into two fillings. He said this decay hadn't shown on the x-rays.

So now it's now 8 days later. I'm thankful that the two fillings on the bottom aren't as sensitive as the two on the top, but they're still not great. I know that some sensitivity is normal with composite fillings though. The 2nd bicuspid on the bottom has been aching, it feels a lot like how the bottom 1st molar felt before it was filled. In the last couple of days the aching seems to have eased a little but it still gets worse after I eat (still not eating on that side, I've been eating exclusively on my right side for almost three months now).

I'm thinking about seeing a third dentist to see what they think about my bite. It still very much feels like my top left 1st molar filling needs filed but dentists seem to rely heavily on articulating paper, which isn't showing bite issues. When I had that tooth filled three years ago I had this same trouble, I went back three times to get it filed because the bite felt off, but they relied less on articulating paper and more on me saying 'a little more, just a little more'. After that it was fine. It's worth noting that when I close my teeth the only points of contact seem to be the four that have been filled. I don't feel anything touching on the right side, but I can't say if it was like that before or not. I can't remember what a comfortable mouth feels like. I still have at least three fillings left to get done, as well as the root canal of the top left 2nd bicuspid that hasn't settled, and I'm now looking at December for appointments because my dentist is taking two weeks holiday in November.

So, any thoughts on articulating paper reliability? Potential risks of getting it filed again? Experiences similar to mine?

I haven't felt like I can properly close my teeth for almost three months now and it's beyond frustrating. I'm scheduled to have a bottom molar on the right filled on October 29th but I don't see me going through with that until I'm content with the left side. I'm scared of being rendered completely unable to eat without discomfort, it's hard enough as it is eating on the right side and keeping cold and warm-hot food away from the bicuspid that's needing root canal.

Thanks if you actually managed to read through all that!

0 likes, 1 reply