Q. Last year I had root canal treatment on one of my back teeth which was then filled with a white filling as an nhs treatment. Unfortunately, since the filling, each time I flossed the tape got caught and was extremely difficult to remove. I live 125 miles from my old dentist but recently have been lucky enough to finally get a new nhs dentist local to me. She took an x-ray of the tooth and said there was a problem. She drilled part of the tooth and filled it with a silver (amalgam?) filling. She told me that I couldn’t have a white filling on the nhs. Is that right? How come the other dentist gave me a white filling? Luckily the filling today was where it can’t be seen, but I need to have a temporary filling replaced that will be visible, will I have to pay for private treatment to get a white filling? Also, will the new filling gel with the older white filling, or will that tooth be weakened by the work she’s carried out? She also says you can’t have a scale and polish on the nhs – is this right? I’m sure my old dentist carried out this service. It’s taken 5 years to be able to get an nhs dentist where I live – the old one used to cost me £100 in travel costs so I can’t go back there anymore. I take good care of my teeth and rarely have to have treatment of any kind (that temporary filling was put in 7 years ago), so should I just pay up and shut up or can I insist she puts in a white filling? If you managed to get to the end of this query, I thank you for taking the time to read it and look forward to your reply.,