Is There Any Chance My Dentist Could Of Left Behind Some Silver Filling In My Tooth?
Q.
Hi, I had a silver amalgam filling removed today as it made my tooth look totally grey and had it replaced with a white filling. However, there is a silver band around the top quarter of the tooth (although the rest of the tooth looks okay). Does this mean that the dentist may have left some if the old silver filling in and this is now showing through? The old filling was pretty deep so maybe the white filling isn’t deep enough? How can this be rectified? The dentist said it’s just my tooth but it looks like some silver has been left in. Any advice please?
Hi, I had a silver amalgam filling removed today as it made my tooth look totally grey and had it replaced with a white filling. However, there is a silver band around the top quarter of the tooth (although the rest of the tooth looks okay). Does this mean that the dentist may have left some if the old silver filling in and this is now showing through? The old filling was pretty deep so maybe the white filling isn’t deep enough? How can this be rectified? The dentist said it’s just my tooth but it looks like some silver has been left in. Any advice please?
A.
Hello and thank you for getting in touch. When amalgam is placed in to a tooth, some of the metal elements can leach into the surrounding tooth and cause it to discolour. This is particularly evident when the filling is large or a little bit of natural tooth remains. When the filling is removed, this discolouration can remain, giving a greyish appearance to the tooth. Rather similar to what you described.
Hello and thank you for getting in touch. When amalgam is placed in to a tooth, some of the metal elements can leach into the surrounding tooth and cause it to discolour. This is particularly evident when the filling is large or a little bit of natural tooth remains. When the filling is removed, this discolouration can remain, giving a greyish appearance to the tooth. Rather similar to what you described.
It is very unlikely that the dentist has left any filling in the tooth, as there would be no benefit in doing so. Sometimes it is possible to mask out the discolouration with a lining material when replacing the filling, however even this has its limitations. If the filling is very large, and the discolouration is a cosmetic concern, it may be justified to place a crown on the tooth.
I really hope this information is helpful and I wish you a very Happy New Year. Kind regards Marcus Gambroudes.
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