Dental Advice faq from Seattle Area Dentist

Thank you for visiting our web site and for your question. The fact that you previously had a large filling on your molar indicates to me that you had, at one time a large cavity in the tooth, and that there is minimal tooth structure remaining to help insulate the nerve of the tooth. Whenever a new filling is placed, it is necessary to remove some existing tooth structure to clean it and to allow for proper placement of the new filling. Since I have not seen your tooth, I do not know the extent of breakdown, but suffice to say that you may be experiencing nerve irritation due to exposure and possible contamination from a cavity. If this is the case, only time will tell if the tooth will need a root canal, since it seems it is still too early to make a diagnosis from the xray. It is also possible that you are reacting to the chemical nature of the filling in your tooth, though reactions of this type are typically not as severe as yours seems to be. If the pain persists or becomes unbearable, the next step might be to perform a root canal, even if the xray shows no pathology. Also, please be aware that fractures do not typically show up in xrays and are often only diagnosed with clinical tests and/or understanding the symptoms. One common sign of 'cracked tooth syndrome' is sharp pain to cold temperatures. I hope this info helps!