5 Signs Your Dental Filling Has Gone Bad
A new dental filling should last many years. In fact, amalgam fillings can last as long as 15 years if you take good care of your teeth. But there are many factors that reduce the lifespan of a dental filling, such as poor hygiene practices and poor diet.
If your dental filling fails, you will start to notice changes in your mouth, especially near the dental filling. If you notice one or more of the following signs, then your dental filling may have failed.
1. You feel discomfort when eating
A normal dental filling will not cause any discomfort while you eat. But if a filling has failed, you may begin to notice that eating on the affected tooth causes you discomfort. If you feel a sharp pain when chewing with your dental filling, your dental filling will likely need to be replaced. And food can sometimes find its way under a failing dental filling and cause discomfort too.
2. You suddenly suffer from bad breath
Almost everybody may have bad breath in the morning. Oral bacteria multiplying in the mouth while you sleep cause this. Bad oral bacteria, the kind that causes a filling to fail, give off a rotten odour. This odour leads to bad breath. So if oral bacteria have infiltrated the minute space between your filling and the underlying tooth enamel, they may have multiplied in the space, which can cause bad breath.
3. Your tooth is more sensitive than normal
Another obvious sign that a dental filling has gone bad is sensitivity in a tooth with a dental filling. This sensitivity will be most obvious when you drink hot or cold drinks because the extreme temperatures can breach a damaged filling and cause tooth sensitivity.
4. The enamel near the filling is discoloured
When a filling needs replacing, there is a good chance that oral bacteria can penetrate the gap between the filling and the tooth it protects. While living inside the tiny pace between a filling and the underlying tooth structure, bad bacteria can begin to cause tooth decay. Tooth decay causes tooth discolouration. So if the enamel near the filling appears to be discoloured, the filling may have failed.
5. Your bite feels off
Failing fillings begin to deteriorate over time. Pieces of a failing filling may even break off. When this happens, you will notice that your teeth don't come together the same way as they did before, especially near your tooth filling.
Is your filling failing? Then you need to replace that filling before oral bacteria can invade the tooth under the filling and cause tooth decay.
