Postfilling pain

Postfilling pain is a term used to denote pain that appears after the process of filling tooth. Such pain is usually caused by devitalization of pulp. It is used after filling root canals but eventually it ruins pulp.

What are the causes of postfilling pain?

1. Overdried dentine. Treatment and washing-out of the mouth cavity are necessary steps of every procedure of filling teeth. However they are very harmful for dentine. All these procedures overdry it. They provoke redistribution of dentine liquid. It moves inside dentine tubes at great speed. These procedures change pressure inside dentine tubes. Eventually ruptions and tears of odontoblast appendices appear. Too much dentine liquid is the actual cause of postfilling pain. Luckily this factor can be eliminated if your dentist uses modern methods of treatment and filling.

2. Unsealing of the filling and microleakage of liquid. This reason is far more serious that the first one. If postfilling pain is cause by unsealing of the filling or microleakage from dentine tubes, it will be a bit difficult to improve the situation.

In this case the problem can be solved with the help of recurrent filling of tooth. It is done to seal dentine tubes with the help of primer. It is worth mentioning that such cause of postfilling pain is less frequent than the first one. Unsealing of the filling and microleakage of liquid can be caused only by improper treatment or using low-quality filling materials. That is why one should be careful choosing a dental clinic.

Sometimes postfilling pain is caused by unsealing of the filling under the photopolymer composite material. The thing is that connection between the filling and the cavity liner is much stronger than that between the dentine and cavity liner. That is why cavity liner can be torn off from the bottom of the cavity.

3. Treatment of dentine. Another possible cause of postfilling pain is a chemical one. Dentine is treated with acid. If such treatment lasts for more than 15 seconds, it can be the cause of postfilling pain. Acid unseals dentine tubes and destroys plugs of blurry layer. This is done to ensure deeper penetration of composite and adhesive materials. Sometimes filling and adhesive materials get too deep inside the dentine tissues and irritate the pulp. This very irritation of pulp is the cause of postfilling pain.

4. Piezoelectric effect. Numerous cases of postfilling pain are caused by the growing number of filling composite materials that imitate the natural color of tooth. One of the most widespread symptoms of postfilling pain is painful feelings caused by chewing or biting something. In fact, there are many factors that can possibly provoke postfilling pain. But if your dentist used composite filling materials to feel the tooth, it is rather likely that there is a direct piezoelectric effect if the composite filling material.

5. Light-polymerizers. Light flux is known to have a polymerizing effect. However, it also has a thermal effect that can cause changes in pulp. These very changes can be the main cause of postfilling pain. Nowadays the influence of stomatological light-polymerizers on dental tissues is still being investigated. Probably soon dentists will be able to use absolutely safe light-polymerizers and eliminate all possible causes of postfilling pain.

6. Pulpitis. If a patient feels no pain eating or drinking cool products and odontometry shows normal electroexcitability of pulp tissues, pulpitis is still one of the most possible reasons of postfilling pain. Pulpitis demands immediate treatment. Otherwise the disease may progress and affect other teeth.