Is it normal to have toothache after filling?

The most common oral disease is toothache. For most people, toothache is caused by dental caries. With the improvement of people's health awareness, many people have realized the harm of dental caries. If small dental caries are not treated in time, the scope of dental caries damage will become larger and larger. Generally, the smaller the caries hole, the easier it is to fill, and the better the treatment effect. Some people experience toothache after filling their teeth. Is this normal?

Most caries can restore the chewing, aesthetic and other functions of the teeth to a certain extent after filling, but in some cases, the teeth will still be painful after filling. Dr. Zhuang from the Department of Stomatology said that according to the nature of the pain, the pain after tooth filling can be roughly divided into provocative pain, occlusal pain and spontaneous pain. The treatment methods for pain caused by different reasons are also different.

Provocation pain

It refers to the short-term cold or hot stimulation pain of the tooth after a filling, but the pain does not last. The common clinical cause is that the pulp is irritated and causes pulp congestion when preparing the hole and grinding away the carious tooth body. Those with mild symptoms can be observed. If the symptoms are relieved, no treatment is required. If the symptoms do not improve or worsen, the filling should be removed and refilled after soothing treatment. Zhuang Peilin said that for moderate and severe caries, directly filling with silver-mercury alloy or resin or padding with zinc phosphate adhesive can also irritate the pulp.

Bite pain

It refers to the pain that occurs when chewing after a filling, which is unrelated to temperature stimulation. It is usually caused by high points in the filling after filling, which leads to premature contact of the teeth during chewing and causes trauma to the periodontal tissue. In this case, you need to go to the hospital to have a doctor check and determine the early contact site of the teeth and adjust the early contact point. Zhuang Peilin said that when the teeth in the corresponding occlusal position of the opposing jaw have different metal restorations, biting pain may occur after filling the tooth with silver-mercury alloy as the filling material. This is because saliva, as a conductive medium, connects two metals with different potentials to form a potential difference, generating electric current to stimulate the dental pulp. At this time, the filling material should be replaced and the tooth should be re-filled.

Spontaneous pain

It refers to the spontaneous pain in the tooth after filling, which can be divided into pulp pain and periodontal pain. The clinical manifestation of spontaneous pulpal pain is paroxysmal, difficult-to-localize spontaneous pain. Hot or cold temperature stimulation can induce or aggravate the pain. Possible causes include caries of the tooth itself and the pulp, secondary caries, chronic stimulation of poor filling materials, etc. At this time, appropriate pulp treatment methods should be selected according to the patient's age and pulp condition, such as apexing, root canal therapy, etc. Zhuang Peilin emphasized that the clinical manifestation of spontaneous periodontal pain is persistent, localizable spontaneous pain, which is not related to temperature stimulation. Chewing can aggravate the pain. Common causes include damage to the gums during filling surgery, overhangs in fillings, and food impaction caused by poor adjacent relationships. These factors can damage, irritate or compress the gums, causing gingival inflammation and leading to spontaneous periodontal pain. The corresponding treatment methods are: local flushing and medication for mild gingivitis; removal of overhangs for those with overhangs; re-filling for those with poor adjacent relationships, and inlay or crown restoration when necessary.

It is worth mentioning that some patients experience pain symptoms after tooth filling, or the original pain symptoms do not improve significantly after tooth filling, but examination of the filled teeth shows that there is no problem. The doctor said that at this time, we should consider whether the pain from other teeth radiates to this tooth, that is, in addition to the filled teeth, there are other diseased teeth in the patient's mouth. A comprehensive examination should be conducted to prevent missed diagnosis. Only in this way can caries be treated in time, the disease can be avoided from being prolonged, and the teeth can be protected to the maximum extent.