How To Care for Your Temporary Tooth Filling

Do you have a temporary tooth filling? If so, you need to take care of it. Read on to learn how to care for a temporary tooth filling.

There are lots of reasons why your dentist may choose to give you a temporary filling solution. One key reason is to give your teeth stability while waiting for further dental work to be done.

That raises the question, how temporary is a temporary tooth filling?

The ideal answer is that it will remain in place until it has served its purpose and it is removed by your dentist. The less ideal answer is that it will fall out and prove to be very temporary indeed!

If you have been given a temporary tooth filling, what should you do in order to care for it so that it does its intended job? Here are 4 things you need to know so that your temporary fillings are not even more temporary than you want...

1. Watch What You Eat

This has got nothing to do with your waistline.

We may take our teeth for granted when it comes to the types of food we eat. Your teeth are remarkable and work very hard. It is probably no surprise to learn that your tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the human body.

That said, once your teeth are damaged to a certain degree they cannot replenish themselves. Small cracks in the tooth become vulnerable to hard foods. When you have a filling, the material that filling is made from is designed to give your tooth the strength it needs and prevent further spread of decay.

A temporary filling serves a different purpose. It is primarily to close a cavity and prevent the spread of infection or disease until your permanent filling is ready. A temporary tooth filling is made from a softer material than the material in permanent fillings and will break free from your tooth if put under a lot of pressure.

For example, if you eat crunchy food or hard foods or even very sticky foods such as gum or certain candies and sweets, you will likely damage temporary fillings. So, avoid these types of foods.

2. Watch How You Eat

Preventative dentistry is all about small things you and your dentist can do to help prevent bigger problems with your teeth occurring. Far better to prevent problems from occurring than trying to fix them afterwards.

This principle is especially true when it concerns your teeth. The human body is a remarkable healer and can restore itself. The human skeletal system is renewed every 10 years. However, that does not include your teeth.

A general rule for chewing is to try and use both sides of your mouth evenly so as to share the workload so to speak. When you have a temporary filling, you need to adjust your approach by avoiding chewing on the side of your mouth with the temporary filling.

It is easy to forget this, so you will have to give yourself a strong mental note.

3. Brushing and Flossing - What You Need to Avoid

Even though you have a temporary tooth filling you will want to maintain good mouth hygiene habits. That means regularly brushing and flossing.

If you have a temporary filling you can still brush your teeth but you need to be aware that how you brush will make a difference. Be more gentle and take your time. Harsh brushing may damage or weaken your filling and if so, it will come away from your tooth sooner that you want.

Flossing is arguably more dangerous for your filling as it is possible to catch an edge of your filling materials and pull it free. Try to be aware of this and avoid flossing close to the temporary filling.

4. Use a Mouth Guard

Some of these suggestions will resonate with your common sense. However, it is unlikely that you will have thought about using a mouth guard.

This is not necessary for everyone. If you are active in sports, especially contact sports like football and rugby or any physically demanding sport, then you would benefit from using a mouth guard.

If you enjoy lifting heavy weights, this is another area in which a mouth guard could help. The basic principle is that when you exert yourself physically, without even knowing it you convey some of the tension and strain to your mouth.

When you have a temporary filling, you put that filling at risk of being damaged or coming away from your tooth. A mouth guard will help protect your teeth generally but most especially under these circumstances.

In this article, you have read some excellent tips to help you care for your temporary tooth filling. Some of these will not surprise you and make perfect sense.

Even though they are common sense to some degree, it is amazing how often they are forgotten. That is one of the reasons why it is beneficial to take some time and review these points. It is partly about making a mental note.

If your dentist does a good job of your filling, you will not always notice that it is there. That is a good thing but you may also see why it can be so easy to forget about it and the care tips in this article. Try not to.