Teeth question, old fillings fine but teeth breaking away from them, what to do?

BlondeHeadOn · 6 July 2007 at 11:38AM

About 30 years ago when I was 17 I had a marathon teeth filling session with my local dentist (while it was still free on NHS:D ). I think he must have been paid by the weight of filling, because he filled virtually all my upper and lower back teeth with enormous fillings! (I don't remember my teeth being that bad, but what do I know).

Fast forward to today, and I keep having problems with bits of the teeth around the fillings breaking off

, even though the fillings are as solid as a rock. I have had to go to the dentists 4 times in the past couple of years, for 3 teeth to be repaired. So far he has been drilling out the old fillings and re-filling, but with the last one he said that the to be careful not to chew on anything too hard on that side and that a crown might be better.

I am now at the point where I feel that I am ancient and my teeth are crumbling away

, and am only eating soft food in case more teeth crumble. And lo! I have to go back to the dentist next week because another one has started to crack, on the other side this time...

I am thinking of just asking for the offending teeth to be crowned, as I don't want to spend the rest of my life eating pappy food (!), but will this solve the problem? I also know that this is going to be expensive - I have one crown already (done a few years ago) which cost an arm and a leg because he had to put a gold crown in (I cracked everything else he tried!)

Sorry for the rambling post, but I guess my questions are:
1. Does anyone else in the world have this problem, or should I be very worried about being a crumbley-mouthed oddity?
2. Should I just go for having the teeth crowned and sod the expense?
3. Will this actually enable me to eat again with confidence?
4. Are there any other options or things I should be doing?

Incidentally all my other teeth seem to be fine, including my crowned one - it's just these ones with old fillings that are causing the problem. And my dentist is very good, even though I still hate going as I am a bit phobic!

Any help gratefully accepted.....

JennyW_2 · 6 July 2007 at 12:03PM

BlondeHeadOn wrote: »

So far he has been drilling out the old fillings and re-filling, but with the last one he said that the to be careful not to chew on anything too hard on that side and that a crown might be better.

:eek:

I personally would seek the advice of another dentist. Your dentist really isn't addressing the problem by re-doing your fillings each time is he?

If crowns are the only way to go then I would pay to get it done. You're going to need your teeth for a long time to come

BlondeHeadOn · 6 July 2007 at 12:32PM

Er - no, he gave me the option, and he has only re-filled each tooth once - and all of those fillings have held okay. It's just that I have a lot of teeth with the old fillings in, which all seem to be cracking at the moment. (I know I said 4 fillings in 3 teeth, but one of them he tried to re-build first as not much tooth had chipped off - then he re-filled when that didn't work.)

I have become very nervous about chewing because of the previous breaks, not because my dentist's work is in any way suspect.

My main question is: are crowns the right way to go, and has anybody else had this problem and has it been fixed by having crowns or caused more problems later on? I don't want to shell out a fortune for crowns if other people have found them problematic anyway.

sandy2_2 · 6 July 2007 at 12:55PM

Yes, I had large fillings in my back teeth when I was younger, much younger....Yes each time they have been refilled they fillings have got larger and left less original tooth. after a period of time the original tooth cracks and breaks away.... think about a bag of cement which has got damp, the cement hardens but the paper holding the cement in isn't that strong.
One of my teeth has been repaired using small pins (dentist called it scaffolding) and the tooth built up around them, so now more filling than tooth. This has been fine now for 20plus years. My second tooth broke, leaving the filling in place. The dentist here in Spain tried to build the tooth back without any pins, but after a few weeks this broke off again so suggested a root canal leading to a crown. This was fine for a while but dentist left so I went to another one. She has built the tooth up twice now but if it breaks again then it will have to be a crown. Here in Spain they do not use amalgam fillings only the white stuff which I don't think is as strong.
My friend also has had the same trouble and is considering an implant.
I'm sure as soon as Toothsmith sees your post something else will be added

BlondeHeadOn · 6 July 2007 at 1:06PM

That's useful to know, thank you.

To clarify, my teeth have only been filled twice, once 30 years ago when I was 17 - and they lasted up until 2 years ago with no problems at all so I guess I can't complain too much about that! Then the actual teeth around the fillings started to chip away - my dentist says that this is normal with large fillings as the teeth wear over time (in this case 30 years).

So we are not taking constant filling and re-filling here - just twice for each affected tooth. It is more that I am now nervous about putting pressure on these teeth in case they start to break away again - maybe I am being a bit neurotic about it! My dentist has said that eventually I will probably have to have crowns, but I want to know whether it is worth cutting my losses and just asking for them to be crowned now? Or will this be more trouble than it's worth?

Sorry for any confusion!

sandy2_2 · 6 July 2007 at 1:12PM

I must admit I don't crunch away or eat boiled sweets on the side of my mouth that just has the built up tooth, just in case....

kickstart_3 · 6 July 2007 at 1:27PM

I think crowns are a bit of a lottery ! I have some crowns and have had lots of problems , eg, they actually come off a lot and i still dont bite hard on anything with them. Yet i know other people who are fine with them.

Errata · 6 July 2007 at 6:25PM

I occasionally have a filling replaced but that would be a donkey's years old one. I also have two crowns which never give any trouble and they're both getting on for 30 years old. Good old NHS !

Toothsmith · 6 July 2007 at 6:29PM

It's all to do with how the filings were done in the first place.

A few years ago, fillings were done larger than they can be nowadays due to what was then the best knowledge, and the materials that were worked with.

Big fillings are OK, but they set up little micro cracks within the tooth that years later cause cusps to fall off - as you've experienced. This can also hapen if the holes are not cut well in a tooth, or if the tooth gets too hot whilst cutting. So a dentist taking his time and getting it right will be the best way to stop this sort of thing happening.

Unfortunately, you can't go back in time and have the fillings done again with modern materials and techniques!

Crowning probably is the best way to go in your situation now - but don't just have everything crowned. Only the ones that break.

As for your children, or anyone with teeth with no fillings in them. Best of all is to make sure you don't get fillings in the first place.

If you do need them, get them done well, by a dentist who takes his time, and as small as possible using adhesive techniques and white filling wherever possible. (It's a better material for small holes. If you have big holes, it's not quite so good unless the dentist really is very good.)

Toothsmith · 6 July 2007 at 7:36PM

Errata wrote: »

Good old NHS !

'Old' NHS is the key here!

There was nothing much wrong with the dentistry you could get on it 30 yrs ago! (for it's time anyway)

Errata · 6 July 2007 at 7:51PM

Toothsmith, I know you've despaired of NHS dentistry. Perhaps the most important thing is that people take responsibility for the health of their teeth and gums, have regular checkups and a good relationship with their dentist. But of course many won't do that for a variety of reasons.

Teeth question, old fillings fine but teeth breaking away from them, what to do?

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