Any Dentists out there? - Filling Question

dinofabio

Hi there,

Six months ago the dentist that I had been using for over a decade decided to retire. He was excellent.

A new dentist took over the practice.

I made an appointment to see him because the top part of a filling had come out (I was in no pain).

He tried to talk me into having a full crown, but I said can we just replace the bit of missing filling. He reluctantly agreed saying it would probably drop out again.

So he does a filling 'mix', applies some adhesive to the tooth and does the filling.

Three weeks later it drops out (and no, I don't eat toffee ).

Goes back for the second time. Told him the problem and he says I told you it might drop out. Again we have the chat about fitting a new crown. I manage to persuade him to do me another filling which he applies in the same manner i.e mix up filling and glue to the top of the existing filling.

Now....I have had this sort of work done before by different dentists. They have always cut ridges / undercuts / grooves into either the existing filling or tooth wall prior to applying the filling so that the filling is retained. This dentist does not?

I mentioned this to him and he basically just ignored me and carried on gluing the filling, saying the adhesive is good enough.

This new repair lasted 2 weeks and dropped out again!!

So after two new fillings I'm back to square one.

Call me paranoid but I think he just wants me to have a crown fitted (very expensive and unnecessary imo) and by doing this poor repair he knows it won't last and I'll have to have a crown in the end.

I think it's poor practice the way he is doing this repair but it's difficult questioning a person (who has trained for years) about the standard of his work, but common sense tells me that gluing a bit of filling on top of an existing filling without creating some sort of retention is destined for failure.

Any thoughts anyone? Agree or disagree?

PS I have thought about changing dentists but the next nearest is another 30 min drive away.

brook2jack

Without seeing the tooth difficult to say , but in a standard situation where say the outside of a tooth has broken off it is impossible to drill a piece of filling out so you bond (glue) filling in instead. Unfortunately you need a good amount of enamel to bond to otherwise the piece comes out. Eventually you get to the stage when a tooth is mostly filling and you cannot put anymore in because there is nothing to hold it in and what is left is so weak. Then you have to crown the tooth.

As said before you can't tell without looking at the tooth but bonding filling on is a standard procedure.

Fork86

As B2J has said, there are 2 options when you have a part of your tooth or filling break and the original restoration left behind is partly intact... Repair adhesively or place a cuspal coverage restoration like a crown or onlay.

If your dentist is recommending a crown, it is probably because the tooth needs it. Just try not to delay it until it is too late to even restore the tooth.

The only thing you need to be wary of with crowns is a 20 % risk of needing a root canal within 5 years, but balance that out with potentially losing the tooth if it breaks irreparably sooner than that and needing to pay for an implant or bridge later to replace the gap if it is visible.

I would have been more worried if he did the repair and didn't say it wouldn't last.

welshdent

Sounds like they are being honest with you. I've been placed in much the same situation you are within and believe me, we don't do a rubbish job to force you in to a crown. We do the best we can but if someone else is refusing the advice there is only so much we can do. Obviously we can not see you and your tooth but if a bonded resortation is falling out so easily then clearly the cavity is more complicated. On the bright side the fact they have avoided cutting grooves etc as to me they are trying to conserve as much tooth tissue as they can which will be of benefit in the future

dinofabio

Thanks for the responses.

Seems like I'm in the wrong on this one.