Tooth just filled and now abscessed. What do I do?

I had a broken molar (second one from the back on the lower left side). I went to the dentist and he filled it, but after about a month I went back because the filling was causing my teeth not to close properly (it never did close properly after he worked on it). He ground a little more off of the filling and told me that I now had an abscess. My teeth still do not close all the way because of the filling he put in my tooth. Sometimes there is some swelling on the side of the tooth that he filled. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to go back to him because I don’t think he really cares about me.
– Rick from Missouri

Rick,
I can’t tell, really, what is going on or what needs to be done without seeing you, but just from what you’re telling me, it doesn’t sound like you’re in a quality dental operation. I think your idea of switching dentists sounds like a good idea. And you need to trust your dentist, so feeling that he doesn’t care about you is also an indication that it may be good to switch.

It’s not unusual for a filling to get in the way of your bite and need adjustment afterward. That happens to every dentist. But then the dentist should be able to adjust it and get it to fit right without repeated trips back.

And for your tooth to be abscessed that soon after he filled it doesn’t sound right. Again, sometimes decay is deep and when the tooth is further irritated by getting a new filling, that can cause a tooth to become sensitive and eventually the tissue inside dies. And you didn’t mention anything about a toothache, but said that now the tooth is abscessed. Again, this isn’t in every case, but it sounds like the tooth was already infected when he worked on it. If you get out all the decay, you should be able to tell if a tooth is infected before filling it. There are cases where the pulp of the tooth dies without any toothache, but not usually under a fresh filling.

Furthermore, if your molar was broken, in most cases it would need a crown. So I’m not sure why your dentist did a filling. Maybe that was what it needed. But there are so many question marks here in what was done for you.

The tooth needs a root canal treatment and then probably a dental crown. It’s the second tooth from the back, so it’s probably a first molar, which is an important tooth. You definitely don’t want to lose this tooth if you can avoid it, and if you lose it, be sure to replace it right away, or your bite can collapse on that side.

This blog sponsored by Naperville dentist Dr. David Newkirk