Suddenly need multiple fillings

Janey_Mac

I'd been quite lax about dental check-ups for most of my late teenage-early adult years, though I always looked after my teeth and didn't have any problems.

A few years ago I started going for check-ups again. Between money and time and procrastination I went every two years from the age of 24 to 28. At 24 I went with my mother up the north, was told there were no problems. At 26 I went to my partner's old family dentist, was told there were no problems and given that I had never had any dental issues, if I had no problems in the mean time there was no need to have another check-up for another two years.

At 28, around a year ago, I went for a check up. There had been no dental or oral issues in the meantime. I went to a big chain of clinics because they opened late (no need for time off work) and were reasonably priced.

I was told I needed three fillings. I was surprised but accepted that these things happen. I had to wait a few months to get the fillings to make sure I had enough money, and then again there was a bit of a delay before I went back for another check up, so the most recent check up was about a year after the first one at that place.

I need another filling.

Is it usual for this to happen, teeth without any problem for years and years, good diet, limited sweets, no sugar in tea, limited fizzy drinks, brush well twice a day, and then suddenly half the teeth are rotting out of your head? Should I be looking for a second opinon?

Dianthus

For peace of mind if nothing else, then yes.
(You didn't mention daily flossing.....brushing alone only cleans 3 of the 5 sides of a tooth)

Janey_Mac

Unlikely as it sounds, I was under the impression that flossing was some kind of dental hygiene optional extra until I was 26. I think dentists assumed I was flossing since my teeth were fine, and when I was a kid my parents never flossed, so I figured it wasn't a necessity.

When I started it took me a good while to get the knack of it, so I only flossed irregularly until more recently. My teeth are close together, so the floss gets stuck, then jerks free and cuts my gum or else some of the fibres get stuck and it separates out and I have to work it free. These days I just accept that it's a long job but I have to do it.

Janey_Mac

Went to my partner's old family dentist. He said he might have filled one of the teeth, wouldn't have dreamed of filling the others, and made me promise not to get any more fillings without seeing him first.

He also told me to floss more, which is fair.

I think I'll be going out to him and ignoring the convenient clinic from now on.

Oral Surgeon

Janey_Mac wrote: »

Went to my partner's old family dentist. He said he might have filled one of the teeth, wouldn't have dreamed of filling the others, and made me promise not to get any more fillings without seeing him first.

He also told me to floss more, which is fair.

I think I'll be going out to him and ignoring the convenient clinic from now on.

Op could you clarify if you had these 3 fillings and 1 recent filling done??

Janey_Mac

I got the first three fillings done, but not the one I was told I needed recently.

Oral Surgeon

Janey_Mac wrote: »

I got the first three fillings done, but not the one I was told I needed recently.

ok did you bring the initial (pre-filling) xrays to your new dentist to review?

Janey_Mac

I never got X-rays.

Oral Surgeon

Janey_Mac wrote: »

I never got X-rays.

Well, you should have imo but that is another debate... If you just went to your new dentist with 3 recent fillings and no pre-op xrays or photos- I really can't see how your new dentist can say that those fillings were not needed in the first place. Indeed they may not have been necessary but no one can tell you that with any certainty now.....

Janey_Mac

That's a good point. Going by what he said he was basing it on the state of my teeth at the time of the last visit (excellent with one which might bear watching) and currently (still excellent, with that one and two others having been filled.)

btkm8unsl0w5r4

people the lesson here is stop changing dentist, make the effort to see your regular dentist. Nothing like having somebody that knows your teeth. Even if you dentist is "expensive" the no filling with them is cheaper than a 3 fillings with the cheaper dentist if you get my drift.

DaveTwenty7

Alondra Crooked Baton wrote: »

people the lesson here is stop changing dentist, make the effort to see your regular dentist. Nothing like having somebody that knows your teeth. Even if you dentist is "expensive" the no filling with them is cheaper than a 3 fillings with the cheaper dentist if you get my drift.

Couldn't agree more! research backs this up

Janey_Mac

Alondra Crooked Baton wrote: »

people the lesson here is stop changing dentist, make the effort to see your regular dentist. Nothing like having somebody that knows your teeth. Even if you dentist is "expensive" the no filling with them is cheaper than a 3 fillings with the cheaper dentist if you get my drift.

It's all very well to say my lesson is "stop changing dentist, make the effort to see your regular dentist" but I haven't had a regular dentist since I was 16 and finished with orthodontics, that's the problem.

I went with my mother to where she was going because I was living at home. I';d have kept that up but I moved out of home so that was no longer an option: I went with my partner to his old family dentist. I moved house two more times, that dentist wasn't conveniently located and the opening hours didn't suit at all with work, I went to the handy clinic.

When I developed concerns I went back to the inconvenient dentist for the second time (so he's hardly my *regular* dentist.)

I certainly do see your point, but I wonder how you expect people to find a GDP who they like and are comfortable with who can become their regular dentist? I'd imagine my story is a fairly commonplace one as people move away from home in their twenties and have to find new dentists (and doctors and mechanics and whatever else.)

I'll definitely be taking a day off work for my checkups and travelling to see the dentist who doesn't want to fill my teeth without a damn good reason from now on, unless I move too far away to get to him at all.