Tooth Filling Fell Out

While dental work can do a great amount of good, sometimes accidents can happen and further repair work will be needed. Many dental patients can think of a time when they had to deal with a tooth after the filling fell out. While fillings are designed to be able to stay in place after proper dental treatment, sometimes they still come loose. There can be a variety of causes to this, which include trauma to the area, hard food, or misplacement of the filling. Sometimes the seals didn’t hold as hard as expected, but whatever the root cause of the problem, if you can remember a time when a tooth filling fell out, then you know how annoying or frustrating this can be – especially if you have to wait to see a dentist to get the necessary repairs.

There isn’t much that a patient can do when a filling falls out other than contact a dentist and then make an appointment to go in and get that damaged tooth repair. Even when trying to get an education on preventing a filling problem and preventing fillings from falling out doesn’t help because the main causes of this problem aren’t things the patient can generally prevent. There are three very common factors which often result in that tooth damage.

Saliva contamination
The cleaned out area from the damaged tooth was contaminated with saliva when the filling was placed. Dentists and dental assistants have tools to keep saliva from contaminating the repaired tooth or area in the mouth for that very reason. Many different types of bonding material used for fillings can be looser or not stick completely because of saliva contamination. Obviously this issue is out of the control of the patient, and this one needs to be cut off early by the dentist and his or her assistants.

Force and pressure issues

The other most common issue is that the force or pressure put on a filling or teeth. This can be because you bite down too hard, particularly on a tooth with a very large filling, and break that tooth because you break that filling. This happens normally when a very large portion of a tooth becomes filling, such as a front tooth. Depending on the filling used, and especially if the filling is a composite filling then if that filling is off by even a small amount it can lead to major damage.

There are other instances where fillings fall out of teeth, but it usually requires some pressure of some type. The good news is that even if a filling comes loose, you can go to the dentist and get the tooth repaired. Fillings are an extremely important part of dental repair and dental work, and anyone who has ever suffered from cavities or tooth decay knows just how important they can be. Losing a filling might not be pleasant, but it is a long way from the end of the world. These fillings can be replaced, and a good dentist will help to figure out the problem to minimize the chances that you will have to deal with it again.