Broken filling emergency treatment appointments in London
It’s a Sunday, and you are enjoying a fantastic brunch with your family and friends, and suddenly you feel a foreign particle in your mouth and realise that you have a broken filling. Dental fillings can last a long time, but they are prone to breakage and dislodgement in some situations. Don’t let this experience ruin your week – book an emergency appointment with our dentists and specialists.
What happens when a dental filling breaks?
A dental filling can break because of multiple reasons:
- There is a new dental carious lesion that has started around the filling. This can weaken the filling and cause it to break and dislodge.
- You can lose a filling when you chew or bite on a hard food substance as it puts unnecessary forces on the dental filling.
- Bruxism that is clenching or grinding of the teeth can also cause the dental filling to break due to repeated trauma.
- Trauma to the tooth can cause you to lose your teeth filling.
- Consumption of acidic foods and beverages can cause the dental filling to weaken and ultimately break.
If you suffer an incident resulting in a broken filling, the first thing you should do is call us and schedule an appointment with our excellent dentists to replace the lost filling.
Complications of losing a dental filling
Dental fillings are used to restore cavitated tooth strength and rebuild the lost anatomy of the tooth. Dental fillings protect the tooth and seal it from further infective attacks. Therefore, if a broken filling is not replaced within a few days, it can damage and break the unprotected tooth.
Broken filling (or lost ones) exposes the tooth surface, which causes the bacteria and food debris to accumulate into these empty spaces, which can further lead to dental decay. Lost dental filling exposes the dentine of the tooth. The dentine is the second, softer layer of the tooth and more prone to decay. Once dentine is exposed, it can also lead to tooth sensitivity. You may experience intense pain on the consumption of hot, cold or sweet foods and liquids. There will be an intolerance to extreme temperature in your mouth. The further decay to the already decayed and weakened tooth structure will necessitate even more invasive and extensive treatment protocols such as root canal treatments and dental crowns to strengthen and restore the normal tooth function.
When the damage is too severe, you might also have to undergo extraction of the tooth, and you will end up losing your tooth. That is why the sooner you visit our dental clinic in London to get your filling replaced by our outstanding dentist, the better the prognosis of the tooth.
Sometimes, the dental filling can also get dislodged and get stuck to your gums, causing trauma and pain. In such cases, our dentists will carefully remove the impinging filling and replace the lost filling.
Filling replacement
Once you schedule an appointment at our clinic in London, our dentist will carefully examine your tooth and may even take some x-rays to determine the damage. If your filling is broken or chipped, they will smoothen the surfaces and rebuild the lost area with dental cement or resins. In case you have lost the majority of your filling, our dentist in London will remove the remaining filling with the help of a dental drill and replace it with dental cement or resin.
White fillings
White dental fillings are aesthetically pleasing and desirable as they are made from tooth-coloured dental cement and resins, known as dental composites. Dental composites are available in various shades; our dentist will choose a shade that matches your remaining teeth to replace your lost fillings. White fillings are much superior to the traditional metallic silver amalgam fillings, aesthetically and functionally. White fillings are durable, long-lasting and seal the defect, preventing further decay while making sure it looks natural, restores your smile and seals the dental cavity. White fillings would be a much more desirable option if your previous lost filling were amalgam as it gives much more pleasing results.
Inlays and onlays
If the defect created by the broken filling is more significant, a straightforward dental filling may not be appropriate. In such cases, our dentist will recommend you opt for Inlays and Onlays. Inlays and Onlays are indirect dental restorations, meaning they are made out of the oral cavity in a dental laboratory. Our dental clinic in London has a state-of-the-art CEREC 3D milling machine that creates beautiful inlays and Onlays that match your teeth shade and provides greater strength to your teeth while giving superior aesthetic results restoring your smile to its previous glory.