Causes

Often no pain is felt immediately after the visit to the dentist, the patient leaves the practice satisfied. Only when the anaesthesia wears off, pain becomes noticeable. For these reasons the tooth can be sensitive after the filling:

The removal of the caries, i.e. the softened and infected substance, is done by means of drills, which have to be guided with a light pressure. This can irritate the pulp, colloquially the dental nerve.
To create the adhesive bond between the tooth and the filling, an etching gel is applied, which can also irritate the pulp.
The filling material itself can be irritating in rare cases.
If the filling is too high, the tooth is overloaded and hurts.
The soft tissue can also be slightly injured by the filling therapy, but it recovers quickly.

How long does the pain last?

In most cases a filling is necessary due to a carious defect. Some patients continue to complain of slight toothache even after successful filling therapy for a certain period of time. Basically, this toothache after a filling is caused by irritation in the area of the oral mucous membranes, gums or the smallest nerve fibers.

Depending on which of these structures is affected after the filling, the duration of the toothache also differs. If a filling is necessary due to caries, the depth of the carious defect also has a decisive influence on the duration of the toothache. In general, however, affected patients can assume that toothache after a filling should not exceed a duration of two to three days. If the pain persists even after the filling has been completed, the patient should urgently visit the dentist again.

Pressure pain after a dental filling

Apart from the temporarily persistent toothache, a feeling of pressure is one of the most frequently described phenomena that occur after the application of a filling. Similar to the persistent toothache, the pressure perceived by the patient can be attributed to irritation of the oral mucosa, gums or nerve fibers, which can also be caused by the new filling material. This pressure should disappear completely after a few days. If a patient notices a pressure that persists for more than three days after completion of the filling, this could be a first indication of the development of inflammatory processes. For this reason, the dentist should be consulted again for an exact clarification.