Expert: Gary Backlund, DMD, MSD - 11/19/2008

Question
I went to my dentist for my annual check up.  He replaced an old amalgam filling,telling me that it was damaged.  I wasn't having any problems prior to the visit.  Now, I have pain and it looks like I might need a root canal.  Is it possible that his redoing my filling aggravated or caused the problem?  Could I have just left the cracked amalgam filling?

Answer
Hi Safiyah,

I'm sorry you are going through all this. Leaving the cracked filling would not be a good option. Eventually, you would have gotten decay in the tooth and if left untreated would certainly result in a root canal or even extraction.

Anytime we do fillings, the process is irritating to the tooth. The deeper the filling, the greater the chance of problems. There is no doubt in my mind that having the filling replaced has caused your problem , but this is no fault of the dentist...this is just life in dentistry. Sometimes these irritations settle down on their own and other times a root canal is needed. It really is up to you how long you want to wait and how much pain you are having....if the pain is affecting your way of life, I would get the root canal done. If it's not too bad, you won't hurt anything by waiting to see if you get better.

Hope this answers your questions.

Gary Backlund DMD, MSD