Pain after Cavity Filling: What Is Normal?

Pain after Cavity Filling: What Is Normal?

March 1, 2023

Do you experience pain and sensitivity after having a cavity filled? The discomfort results from nerve irritation, allergic reactions, or incorrect bite alignment.

Pain after getting dental fillings near you is expected, but it should subside with time. However, you must call the provider immediately if the pain is extreme or if you have other symptoms like fever and swelling.

This article looks at pain after cavity fillings, how to treat the condition, and when to contact your dentist, besides providing information about other causes for the discomfort.

What to Expect after Cavity Fillings?

The cavity-filling procedure involves a dentist drilling your tooth to clean the decay before filling it with new material. While the dentist injects numbing agents around your tooth, they will clean the decayed portion using a dental drill. After the cleaning, the dentist fills the hollow space with fillers like gold, silver amalgam, composite resin, or porcelain—the pain you experience from the cavity filling starts after the numbing agent wears off.

How Does the Pain Feel after a Cavity Filling?

When you have a painful tooth after a cavity filling, you may notice some triggers that cause an uncomfortable sensation in the tooth and the surrounding area. The pain might appear unexpectedly and disappear in some time. Some triggers that might cause pain in a cavity-filled tooth include cold foods and drinks, hot beverages, cold air hitting your mouth by breathing with an open mouth, sugary foods, acidic foods and beverages, and biting down when eating.

Why Do Fillings Cause Pain in the Tooth?

You can expect temporary pain after a cavity filling. However, if the discomfort is persistent or severe after restoring the tooth, it is likely due to other reasons that need treatment. Below are some causes or symptoms that explain when to see the dentist.

  • Irritated Nerves:You may experience short-term pain in the filled tooth because the filling procedure might have aggravated or caused inflammation to the nerve inside the tooth. The nerve receives protection from the tooth enamel and dentin from exposure. Unfortunately, deep cavities can get close to nerve endings to cause irritation and uncomfortable sensations. The pain will subside as the nerve heals in a few days or weeks. After the nerve has healed fully, you will feel no difference between the restored tooth and your remaining teeth.
  • Incorrect Bite Alignment: When receiving dental fillings in Stockton, CA, the dentist ensures the cavity filling lines up with your remaining teeth. However, you might experience some pain when biting after restoring your tooth. The pain disappears by itself without needing treatment. However, if the filling is too high, it exerts extra pressure when biting down. As a result, the pain is more severe than general post-filling sensitivity. If you feel pain and extreme sensitivity or confront challenges eating or putting your teeth together, you must request the dentist for advice to check your bite. The dentist may smooth the high of the filling to fit your bite and eliminate discomfort correctly.
  • Pulpitis is: An inflammation of the dental pulp at the center of your tooth. Minor fillings generally do not cause pulpitis, but the chances of it occurring remain if your tooth has trauma resulting in cracks or fractures, you have a deep cavity expanding to the dental pulp, or the tooth has received repeated fillings and other treatments. Pulpitis exists in two forms reversible and irreversible. Reversible pulpitis doesn’t need therapy because your tooth heals independently. Unfortunately, irreversible pulpitis from a damaged nerve starts dying and needs a root canal to preserve the tooth.
  • Allergic Reactions: The pain you experience can result from allergic reactions to the filling materials used to restore the tooth. You may also experience pain from other materials used during the cavity-filling procedure.

Treating a Painful Tooth

Treating a painful tooth at home is not challenging using the following methods.

You can take over-the-counter painkillers or use a topical numbing agent specifically designed for your mouth. Brushing with gentle strokes on your teeth and gums, besides avoiding whitening toothpaste, helps minimize the pain. Rinsing your mouth with water instead of consuming acidic foods or beverages also helps, besides brushing your teeth immediately after having acidic foods, because it can result in enamel erosion.

If you don’t find relief from these measures in a few days after a cavity filling discussing the problem with the dentist is essential. The dentist near you will examine your tooth to eliminate other causes of the pain unrelated to the filling.

When to Contact Dentists for Tooth Pain after Cavity Filling?

Pain after a cavity filling should not alarm you because mild discomfort is expected after the procedure. You can find relief from the discomfort using home remedies and desensitizing toothpaste. However, you must contact your dentist immediately if the pain worsens, causes challenges when eating, or makes you experience other symptoms like toothaches and fever.

Lakefront Smiles providing dental fillings makes patients aware of the discomfort they might experience after the filling procedure. While they make all efforts to ensure your comfort, the process might cause pain occasionally. Contact us if you need cavity fillers or experience discomfort from fillings today.

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