Cotton wool fillings?

tinabyrne5

My daughter went to the dentist today to get a filling done. When she arrived home she informed me that cotton wool was put into her filling and a clay-like material was put on top of it to form a filling. Does this make sense to anyone?

davo10

Sounds like a primary root canal treatment was done or the tooth had a temporary dressing if she went in on emergency. It would have been explained to her that what she had placed was a temp filling, probably a material called Cavit, it has a chalky consistency and is easy to remove prior to placement of permanent filling.

flahavaj

Or even just a coton pledget used to dry the cavity. Its amazing some of the funny notions kids take about what dental treatment they're having done or are going to have done.

tinabyrne5

She has been attending the orthodontist for two years with her braces and have always attended dentists for fillings, cleanings, extractions etc. She went for a routine examination about a week ago and they booked an appointment for her for a filling which was today. My daughter is 18, old enough not to get any funny notions after all the treatments she's had done over the years. The dentist was rolling up pieces of cotton wool with her fingertips and then pressed them into the cavity. She thought it was very strange as she has never seen this done on her other filling appointments.

cbds

As said above, cotton wool is only left under temp fillings after starting a root canal. Cotton wool can be used for several purposes during cavity prep though. The dentist was probably using them to dry the cavity before filling especially if the gum was bleeding after removing the decay.

digzy

cbds wrote: »

As said above, cotton wool is only left under temp fillings after starting a root canal. Cotton wool can be used for several purposes during cavity prep though. The dentist was probably using them to dry the cavity before filling especially if the gum was bleeding after removing the decay.

i dont think so:rolleyes:

ballsymchugh

digzy wrote: »

i dont think so:rolleyes:

i would. as was said above, most likely to have been a primary endo, but there may have been an exposure, and the paedodontists out there would lecture you on stopping bleeding with some cotton wool with LA sprayed on it before dycal application. maybe?!

davo10

For deep fillings I apply a cavity varnish called copaliner with a small piece of cotton wool or a microbrush, i'm with cbds, the dentist was probably drying cavity prior to dycal/vitrabond/lining placement as the cavity surface must be dry for these to stick to it.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Could be that a medicament was placed on the cotton deep in the cavity like ledermix and them a temp filling on top. The cotton wool make it easy to clean up when you go back in.

digzy

ballsy and dave- i think you misunderstand. i cant see any reason to leave cotton wool in a cavity unless you're doing endodontic tx.
I sure as hell dont be poncing about with cotton wool if there's bleeding coming from the gingiva-which was alluded to in the post.
I never refered to an endo procedure.
As regards copalite-i haven't seen that for ten years. Would bond not be more effective?

georgieporgy

It could of course be an interesting way to keep costs down. Cotton wool fillings...... sounds painless too. I'm going to give it a shot next week.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

The OP did not indicate wheather its a permenent filling or not.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

I think the technicial questions are for the lounge guys;)