Saturday 30 April 2011

Cavity Filling Pain

The tooth is made up of enamel, dentin and cementum and when these are damaged because of any disease, you can see holes in the teeth known as dental cavity which can be very painful. This tooth decay is caused by bacteria and in most cases getting a cavity filling is the only cure. If you have gone to a dentist for a routine check up and you are told that you have a cavity, it is hard to believe, because we generally do not have any cavity symptoms. The outer enamel of the teeth does not have any nerves and hence you won't experience pain if you have a small cavity, but if it spreads and becomes infectious you will feel pain. The easiest remedy is to get a filling, you might experience some cavity filling pain afterwards, because of the abrasive nature of the procedure. Let us take a look at the cavity filling procedure before we try and understand the post cavity filling pain.

Cavity Filling Procedure

A dental examination either visual or with the help of an x-ray can detect tooth decay and you might have to undergo a cavity filling procedure. In lay man terms this procedure involves removal of the parts of the decayed tooth with drills or lasers and then filling the hole with a material that stops further tooth decay. This sounds easy, but removing and cleaning the enamel is not easy, as enamel is one of the hardest material in our body. The use of high speed drills to clear the decayed portion of the teeth that are affected is one of the reasons for cavity filling pain, after the procedure. A patient will be given local anesthesia before the procedure and then the doctor will go to work with a drill or a laser to clear the decayed portion. Once this is done, the doctor will use a coating which will help reduce sensitivity in the teeth before filling up the cavity. This coating insulates the teeth from temperature variations and prevents tooth sensitivity and cavity pain, common materials used are glass ionomer, dycal and zinc phosphate cement. After this a filling material, of your choice, will be used to seal the cleaned area. Some of the common filling materials are silver, gold and ceramic. The cavity filling cost mostly depend on the material you choose.

Post Cavity Filling Pain

The use of high speed dental drills or lasers to remove the decayed portion is one of the most common causes of deep cavity filling pain. Composite filling are also one of the reasons behind tooth pain after filling. This pain can be induced by air pressure, eating sweets or drinking cold beverages. Most people want to know, is cavity filling painful! Well in most cases the actual filling procedure is not painful because of the use of, local anesthesia. You might feel some sensitivity or pain after the procedure, especially when you bite down on something. In most cases, the cavity filling pain subsides in a weeks time, as the sensitivity is mostly due to the abrasive nature of the procedure.

If you are experiencing pain after you bite something, it may be because of misshapen filling, and generally you will have to go in for a second sitting where the doctor will smoothen the surface of the cavity filling. The other reason you might feel this pain is, when the filling in one teeth comes in contact with other teeth when you bite. The doctor usually makes sure that there are no sharp edges left after the filling procedure, but if one or more still remain, notify your dentist and he will clear them out and suggest some antibiotics for tooth pain relief. There is a possibility that the pain is emitting from the pulp of the tooth and in such a case you would be required to get a root canal done for pain relief.

Whatever the reason behind a cavity filling pain, if it does not subside after a week, notify your dentist and he will take the necessary corrective measures.

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