Dental fillings

It depends on the material, the size of the cavity, your oral hygiene and whether you grind. The largest practice-based cohort — 700,885 posterior composite restorations in the National Dental PBRN — found a median survival of 13.3 years, 14.5 years for single-surface fillings and 11.4 years where 3 or more surfaces were rebuilt. 20% of failures happened in the first year, and no filling is permanent.

The ADA holds dental amalgam to be safe and effective, and Cochrane's 2021 review found no clinically important safety difference between amalgam and composite, while rating that evidence very low certainty. The worldwide move away from amalgam under the Minamata Convention is driven by environmental mercury, not by evidence of harm to patients. FDI supports a phase-down rather than an abrupt ban, because affordable alternatives are not available everywhere.

The work is done under local anaesthetic, so it should not hurt — the injection is usually the only uncomfortable part. Mild sensitivity to cold or to biting is common for a few days afterwards and responds to over-the-counter paracetamol or ibuprofen. Pain that is severe, throbbing, or still there weeks later is not normal and should be looked at again.

For small to mid-size cavities under moderate chewing load composite performs well, and the ADA lists it for front and back teeth. In head-to-head trials on posterior teeth it failed more often than amalgam (RR 1.89), driven by decay at the margin rather than by fracture — fracture risk was not higher for composite. Modern composites have improved since those trials ran, but tooth-coloured is an aesthetic choice with a known durability cost, and we would rather say so than sell it as simply better.

Composite and glass ionomer are fully set the moment the appointment ends, so the material is not what you are waiting for. The limit is the anaesthetic — wait until the numbness has gone, usually 2 to 4 hours, so you do not bite your lip, cheek or tongue without feeling it. Amalgam reaches full strength over about 24 hours, so heavy chewing on that side is usually left for a day.

The published minimum for a restoration is 24 hours: cabin pressure change can provoke pain in a recently restored tooth, and Felkai et al. (British Dental Journal, 2023) attribute nearly a third of in-flight dental pain episodes in aircrew to recent restorative treatment. We would rather you flew on day 2, so the bite can be checked once the anaesthetic has worn off and you have eaten on the tooth normally. If the same trip includes an extraction, a root canal or an implant, the longest of those intervals governs your flight, not the filling.

Only at an early stage. Before a hole has formed, fluoride varnish or mouthwash can reverse decay, as the NHS sets out. Once decay has broken through the enamel the tissue cannot grow back and a filling is needed; if it has reached the pulp, the answer is root canal treatment or extraction instead.

Conversion is the commonest way a filling quote inflates abroad — teeth a conservative plan would fill are crowned or veneered instead, which is irreversible, removes far more sound tooth structure and multiplies the cost. If a plan comes back recommending crowns on teeth you were told needed fillings, ask for the radiographs and get a second opinion before you consent to anything. We price tooth by tooth and surface by surface so that the difference is visible on the page.

No — routine replacement of intact, symptom-free fillings is not indicated, and every replacement removes more sound tooth, enlarging the cavity for the restoration after it. Fillings are replaced for recurrent decay at the margin, for fracture, or when the restoration is lost. Where the rest of a composite is sound, repairing the fractured part is increasingly preferred to replacing the whole thing.

Almost nobody who needs a filling should go without one — untreated decay only progresses. The real questions are material and timing. The FDA advises that pregnant or nursing women, children under six, and people with kidney disease, certain neurological conditions or a known mercury allergy should avoid new amalgam where a suitable alternative exists — composite and glass ionomer are that alternative, and we place them routinely. A true allergy to resin components is rare but rules composite out in favour of glass ionomer or ceramic. And a filling is only the right treatment while the pulp is healthy: lingering pain after something hot or cold, pain that wakes you at night, or decay reaching the pulp on the radiograph means root canal treatment or extraction instead. Routine fillings are safe in pregnancy, but where nothing hurts, an elective course can also simply wait until after delivery.

Mild sensitivity to cold and a tender gum for a week or two is expected and settles on its own. Get in touch — with us, or with a dentist at home — if pain is throbbing, wakes you at night, or lingers for more than a few seconds after something hot or cold, because that points to an inflamed pulp rather than a settling filling. The same goes for pain when you release a bite (a possible crack), a bite that still feels high after the first couple of days, a filling that chips or falls out, or a sharp edge your tongue keeps finding. Swelling of the gum or face, fever, a bad taste, or a pimple-like bump on the gum near the tooth are signs of infection and should be seen promptly, not watched. None of these needs a flight back to Istanbul — most are handled in one visit by any local dentist working from your written treatment record, which is exactly why you leave with one.

No — and this is the misconception that most often spoils an otherwise good result. Composite is colour-stable: whitening gels lighten enamel but leave restorations at the shade they were made, so fillings matched to your teeth today will read dark against teeth you whiten later. If whitening is part of your plan, whiten first, then wait about two weeks for the shade to stabilise before front-of-mouth fillings are matched. The reverse also holds — over the years composite picks up stain from coffee, tea, red wine and smoking, especially at the margins, and repolishing is often all that is needed to correct it, not replacement.

€50 to €250 with us, confirmed after a consultation rather than quoted blind. For comparison it is typically £100 – £300 in the United Kingdom, $150 – $450 in the United States and €100 – €300 in Western Europe. Per filling, set by the size of the cavity and the material. A quote that does not say how many surfaces are involved is not comparable to anything.