Pain Caused by a High Filling

If you've ever received a filling at the dentist's office, you probably vaguely remember the dentist putting a piece of colored paper in your mouth and telling you to bite together.  Then, the dentist probably asked, "Does that feel too high?"

Since the mouth is generally numbed during a filling, it's often hard to tell if a filling is too high while you're sitting in the dental chair.  Also, the sooner we tell the dentist that it feels alright, the faster we can get out of their office and on with our life!

Sometimes, a few days after receiving a filling you may notice that your filling is a little too high.  When you bite together, the filling and its opposing tooth may be the first teeth to touch.  It may create an uneven bite.  However, the worst side-effect of a high filling is pain!

Why Does a High Filling Hurt and Cause Pain? 

 

The tooth is supported in bone by a thin layer of tissue called the periodontal ligament.  When you have a filling that is too high, the tooth gets pressed down a lot harder and it makes this ligament very tender.
All of the tissues of our body can get tender when put under stress.  For example, if you work outside in the garden all day pulling weeds without any gloves on, your hands will get red and inflamed.  As a result, the body sends an extra amount of blood to your hands to help them heal.  They get red, inflamed, and very tender as part of the healing process.  This is what happens with the periodontal ligament when it gets compressed much more than usual due to a high filling.

The technical term for this is symptomatic apical periodontitis or acute apical periodontitis.
 

How to Stop the Pain Caused by Symptomatic Apical Periodontitis

 

In order to stop the pain, the cause must be removed.  That means you need to call our office and let us know that the filling is too high.  The process of adjusting it and re-checking your bite should only take a few minutes and usually there isn't a charge for it -- after all, the filling was high in the first place because it wasn't adjusted enough.

How Long Will It Be Until the Pain Stops?

 

After Dr. Steppler has adjusted the filling, the peridontal ligament will still need some time to heal from the additional stress that was placed upon it.

This healing process can take anywhere from a one day to two weeks.  As a general rule, if you are still in pain after more than two weeks you should call us back to make an appointment, as this could be a sign that something else is wrong with your teeth.

Don't be shy about calling our office – the quicker that a problem is resolved, the less likely it is to develop into something more serious.