Temporary fillings

bobblebob

Cracked a tooth on Thursday, got appointment Friday to sort it. Dentist said she would put a temporary filling in while i wait for a proper one. Came out on Sunday, and was purposly not drinking on that side of my mouth. Anyone had a temporary filling last more than 5 minutes? Ive had a few over the years and they always come out within a day or 2.

On a side not, would they replace this free under the NHS? I know i have to pay for Band 2 treatment for the filling, but will i need to pay again for a temporary filling to be replaced?

brook2jack2

If a temporary filling is placed as part of emergency treatment then it is not covered by guarantee and you would need to pay again. 

bobblebob

brook2jack2 said:

If a temporary filling is placed as part of emergency treatment then it is not covered by guarantee and you would need to pay again. 

Thats what i thought. Trouble is my proper filling appointment isnt while 31st April, thats the earliest they can fit me in. Having the temporary one replaced every few days at this rate isnt feasible

MalMonroe

You have to pay £23.80 for emergency treatment and then band 2 cost, £62.59 for the permanent filling. BUT if the temporary filling keeps falling out, I don't think they can charge you again for sticking it back in.

Doesn't your dentist operate an emergency treatment system? Most do. If we are experiencing pain we can phone up on the dot at 9am and they will give us an emergency appointment on that same day. The temp filling you were given hasn't worked and I think you should push your dentist to give you an emergency appointment and do the filling properly. I would stress that it's painful because the temporary filling has not done the job. And moan and groan, I do always get seen, though, without abusing the system.

Although my dentist would have just done the proper filling as an emergency and saved me the time, money and trouble. I had a similar problem with a back tooth just before Christmas. It broke and made my tongue sore and it was all sorted out the day after it happened. If dentists are going to faff about with temporary fillings it's no more trouble just to do a proper one. I'd also be looking for recommendations for another dentist, I have to say. One that doesn't rip patients off.

Torry_Quine

I needed a new filling recently. Unfortunately the filling came out and will be redone in a couple of weeks. The dentist asked if I wanted a temporary filling but I didn't bother as it will no doubt come out and he agreed.

bobblebob

MalMonroe said:

You have to pay £23.80 for emergency treatment and then band 2 cost, £62.59 for the permanent filling. BUT if the temporary filling keeps falling out, I don't think they can charge you again for sticking it back in.

Doesn't your dentist operate an emergency treatment system? Most do. If we are experiencing pain we can phone up on the dot at 9am and they will give us an emergency appointment on that same day. The temp filling you were given hasn't worked and I think you should push your dentist to give you an emergency appointment and do the filling properly. I would stress that it's painful because the temporary filling has not done the job. And moan and groan, I do always get seen, though, without abusing the system.

Although my dentist would have just done the proper filling as an emergency and saved me the time, money and trouble. I had a similar problem with a back tooth just before Christmas. It broke and made my tongue sore and it was all sorted out the day after it happened. If dentists are going to faff about with temporary fillings it's no more trouble just to do a proper one. I'd also be looking for recommendations for another dentist, I have to say. One that doesn't rip patients off.

Yea they do emergency appointments (seems thats all they do as still dont do routine checkups yet), thats what i got last week for the temporary filling, and just got an appointment tomorrow to be seen again as im in pain due to the filling coming out.

Our dentist have some weird rule that the dentist you're registered under has to be the one to perform the treatment. Thats why i cant get seen until end of April for the proper filling as thats the next available appointment she has. You can see any dentist for emergency work, but not routine stuff like fillings.

I am looking to change dentist its just the one i have is 30 seconds walk from work so is handy. They do seem to like to rip you off tho. For example if you need a scale and polish they will send you to the hygienist at a cost of £30, rather than do it under band 1

brook2jack2

Any fillings that need doing that involve drilling need special preparation because of covid , dentists and nurses have to put on extra PPE , surgeries have to be left fallow for anything up to an hour after before you can even start to disinfect them etc. This combined with most places not being able to use waiting rooms , checks done on everyone entering the building etc means 30 to 40% of pre covid treatment can be provided per day.  That means the amount of aerosol treatments that can be done in a day is vastly limited, most practices will be only able to do 3 to 5 aerosol procedures a day. Because of this no dentist I know of will be able to offer a same day filling appointment. A temporary filling is just that, temporary , because you cannot drill and cannot use the glues and procedures you would for a normal filling . Therefore they do come out more easily.

bobblebob

Yea thats what she said to me today. She tried another temporary filling material that is more adhesive and has tried to wrap it around the tooth to hold it in place.

She said due to the way the tooth has cracked its going to be hard for a temporary filling to hold. If this comes out just going to have to put up with it i think