Dr. Hall,
I recently went to a new dentist to get my teeth cleaned. I floss every day and I brush my teeth in the morning and most nights also, I dont drink alot of sodas either. I take really good care of my teeth. My old dentist told me I had great teeth. I found it weird that the dentist I went to the other day told me i have 5 cavities. All of them were in my back teeth. I went and had them filled, which he filled them with the white ones.

Since then I’ve had alot of problems with pain. I’ve had him adjust my bite but it still hurts. I really dont think I had cavities at all though. Should I get an xray from before and bring it to another dentist to see if I even needed the fillings? I looked at the xray after he took it, I didn’t see anything, but of course I’m not a dentist either. I just never had pain before and now I do, plus with the care I take with my teeth I dont see how I could have had 5 after just going to the dentist last year and had none. Just wanting another opinion.
– Alicia in Tennessee

Alicia,
It is possible that you had cavities that the first dentist missed. I had an experience after I got out of dental school where I had a large cavity in my own mouth that had been there for quite some time and the x-rays taken at dental school missed it because they were taken at the wrong angles. But I think you’re reasonable to be suspicious. Yes, if you have reason, like you do, to be suspicious, I would ask for a copy of the x-rays and get a second opinion. But tell the second opinion dentist as little as possible, and don’t let the second dentist know the name of the first. I would just present the x-rays and show up and say, “I’d like a second opinion on this dental work” without planting any ideas like that you thought the work was unnecessary. A dentist who is hungry for patients will sometimes try to agree with a patient in order to convince a patient to quit the other dentist and become a patient. And a dentist who is personally acquainted with another dentist will sometimes hold back and feel a strong obligation not to criticize. To get the very best second opinion, you could visit a dentist in a distant city while you’re on vacation or something.

The post-operative pain you’re feeling also makes me suspicious. It sounds like the white fillings may not have been done correctly – not bonded correctly. Do you have pain when you clench your teeth together? Or is it just pain when you’re actually chewing something? If it doesn’t hurt to clench, but it hurts to chew, that’s an indication that something went wrong in the bonding process. If that pain persists, it may be necessary to replace the fillings to alleviate it. If it hurts to clench, then it’s probably that the bite just needs to be adjusted.

– Dr. Hall

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