Help regarding cost of white fillings.

Toothsmith

Ellie2758 wrote:

I had two white fillingS done last year and both fell out. Waste of time and money unless they are on front teeth IMHO.

White fillings are a lot more 'technique sensitive' than amalgam (silver stuff).

The tooth needs to be well prepared and the bonding agents need to be applied correctly and in a moisture controlled environment. - Not easy in the mouth.

On the plus side, if it's the first filling in a tooth, it can be done by removing a lot less tooth that is necessary for an amalgam. If it's done well, and designed around the properties of the material, it can last just as long as an amalgam.

This is why it takes quite a bit longer to do a white filling than an amalgam one. That is why they're expensive.

At least your white filling had the honesty to fall out.

The ones that worry me are the ones that just sit there and leak underneath.

You don't know anything's wrong with them until the whole tooth collapses on you.

papawaigo

Toothsmith its funny you should say that as i think that is exactly what happened to one of my teeth. I had a white filling (not that big) in one of my molars about 10 years ago, it was always a little sensitive when i bit down on something but i it looked fine then around six months ago half my tooth collapsed and the filling fell out.

Can you explain a little what you mean by "leak underneath" please.

I thought that when my dentist removed the rotting tooth he must have left some behind which carried on decaying and then weakened the tooth until it cracked. I tried to ask my new dentist last week but they spoke very little english which made conversation very frustrating and almost impossible, this is one of the reasons i am reluctant to pay £200 when i am not even sure what is going on.

After hearing what you have said about white fillings being more 'technique sensitive' than amalgam i am thinking that i it would probably be safer to go to a private dentist as i don't want this happening again.

Sorry to bother you further but you seem to know what your talking about. My other tooth which is also a molar didn't have a filling and didn't look that bad to me, it had a black mark in the middle which i thought was just local decay, but last week half the tooth just fell out while i was eating. The piece that fell out was like a shell full of foul smelling soft white stuff which i tried looking at but smelt really bad, i think it was too soft to be tooth. It was like a maggot in an apple, a small entry hole on the outside and then the inside all wrotten. I didn't know this was possible, does it sound like this could have happened ? When i asked my dentist about it i don't think they had a clue what i was talking about and i just think they wanted to get rid of me ( too many questions! )



cheers for the info

Toothsmith

papawaigo wrote:

Toothsmith its funny you should say that as i think that is exactly what happened to one of my teeth. I had a white filling (not that big) in one of my molars about 10 years ago, it was always a little sensitive when i bit down on something but i it looked fine then around six months ago half my tooth collapsed and the filling fell out.

Can you explain a little what you mean by "leak underneath" please.

Yes - if the filling hasn't bonded properly to the tooth, then there will be a microscopic (Or not so microscopic) gap underneath it. Saliva & fluid in general will be drawn into this by capillary action, and take all the bugs from the mouth in there as well.

This will cause sensitivity (Although there are many other causes of sensitivity) and lead to the sort of decay and collapse you have spoken of.

It is also possible that a bit of decay left underneath would cause that too, but I would suspect a leaking edge. Especially as 10 years ago the bonding agents weren't as good as they are now.

After hearing what you have said about white fillings being more 'technique sensitive' than amalgam i am thinking that i it would probably be safer to go to a private dentist as i don't want this happening again.

At least get a dentist you can trust and communicate with.

My other tooth which is also a molar didn't have a filling and didn't look that bad to me, it had a black mark in the middle which i thought was just local decay, but last week half the tooth just fell out while i was eating. The piece that fell out was like a shell full of foul smelling soft white stuff which i tried looking at but smelt really bad, i think it was too soft to be tooth

No - this is decay.

The acid produced by the bacteria dissolves away the calcium and hard stuff, just leaving the organic matrix of the tooth, which it invades and lives in. This is the 'mush' that is left in the middle. The enamel is hard, and quite resistant to decay, especially in someone brought up an fluoride toothpaste. Once through this layer though, it eats through the dentine really quickly.

vanilla8

Ive got a similar quesiton.

Went to the dentist in August,and he then told me i had two holes in my teeth that needed fillings, one in-between my two front teeth. He then treated it but told me it was £120 and private treatment as the white fillings are not available on the nhs.

He wanted paying there and then but i had no money with me. The week later i went on away, and have now just returned home. During my time away the white filling in the middle of my two teeth has fallen out!

I am just about to pay the £120 but am aggreived that one filling has fallen out already, just over two months after being put in. Where do i stand? Can i get the dentist to redo the work or will i have to pay out £60 again?

Teerah

White fillings are available on the NHS for the front six teeth, anything between your canines and also for small fillings in the sides of back teeth. You should be able to have the work redone without paying twice, whether or not you will want it redone there is your decision.

On a side note, why did you have the filling done if you had no money to pay for it? Would you get your hair cut and drop the money in two months later??

vanilla8

Teerah wrote:

On a side note, why did you have the filling done if you had no money to pay for it? Would you get your hair cut and drop the money in two months later??

LOL, my dentist never gave me a choice, he just did the work (I was in there for a widom tooth complaint when he informed me of the two holes) never informed me if it was nhs or private, or never gave me costings before. Thats why im going to ring up tomorrow and tell him im only paying for nhs work, want the filling redone and will contact the DPB/BSA to make a complaint if he doesnt agree.

Toothsmith

Were you led to believe that he was accepting you as an NHS patient?

If he did, then he is not being truthful in what is and is not available on the NHS, as T has said, white fillings are available on front teeth.

Could you have misunderstood him, and in fact none of your treatment was done on the NHS as he wasn't an NHS dentist - therefore NO treatment on the NHS was available at his practice?

There is an important distinction here as to who to complain to, and what you're complaining about.

If treatment options weren't all fully discussed, and an informed consent given, then the dentist is on very thin ice.

Having a filling fall out a few days later COULD just be very bad luck.

One thing of concern to me though is that it is now two months after the dentist made clear that his payment terms were payment in full on completion of treatment, and yet you have still not paid.

So from his point of view, you are not exactly the best patient in the world either! He may well be less than willing to bend over backwards to keep you happy!

If he is happy that he did discuss things with you, and that you did consent to the treatment, he would be quite within his rights to tell you to sling your hook, unless of course, he wanted to take you to court for non-payment.

Then, as well as paying this dentist, you would have to find another dentist to re-do it, and either pay £42.40 to get it done on the NHS, or another private charge.

Unless you are absolutely sure of your side of the story, I would play this quite carefully, and don't go in all guns blazing.