Q. Hi, I had a white restoration on a lower right molar today. After having drilled out the bulk of the old filling, my dentist was using an instrument with some force when the inner side of the tooth broke off (I felt it ‘go’ and it flew up into my line of sight). As a result, he “was not able to contour the tooth the way he would have liked to” and (now the anaesthetic has worn off) the restoration feels quite uncomfortably sensitive on the gumline and the tooth has an unnatural shape that seems to trap food when I eat and which feels weird as well. After the procedure, my dentist said that things hadn’t gone as expected and he’d “used an instrument to check how strong the tooth was and sometimes during this procedure, the tooth breaks”. Having thought about this it seems completely counter-intuitive that someone would risk breaking the structure of the tooth as he stated and I’m sceptical that he told me the truth. Is there such an instrument to test the strength of the tooth? My feeling is that it broke while he was using a ‘pick’ to try to break out some old amalgam filling in the drilled cavity. I like my dentist and he’s done really good work for me in the past, but having parted with £170 for this procedure (on top of the other charges for Hygienist Visit, X-Rays and 10 Point Exam the previous day), I suddenly lack trust in him and I’m wondering if I should spend my money elsewhere in future. I appreciate that any answer you might give is nothing more than an opinion and has no legal meaning or weight, but I’d really appreciate your take on this situation as I’m at a loss as to what I should do. Best regards,