This morning I saw a patient who had been in extreme pain for the last couple of weeks. What started as a small cavity grew into a large cavity that eventually made its way to the tooth’s pulp. We were able to take her out of pain by starting a root canal today.
If we end up fixing her tooth, rather than extracting it, it will cost her around $1200. Even then, with the condition of the tooth, it may only last her 5-10 more years.
A bridge to replace that tooth would cost her $1350. An implant to replace that tooth would cost her $2100. And those are dental school prices. It would probably be about twice that in a private practice. You can find the average dental fees in your area here.
Had she come in a couple of years ago, we could have easily removed the decayed portion of the tooth and put in a filling. With the prices at my dental school, that would have cost her only $84 and would have most likely lasted her at least 20 years (she has several amalgam fillings that are still going strong after more than 15 years.)
Find out how long a silver filling lasts.
The Moral of the Story
What I’m trying to get across is that if your dentist recommends getting a filling in a tooth, get it (As long as you trust your dentist!)
If you put it off simply because the tooth doesn’t bother you, there’s a good chance both you and your wallet will be experiencing some pain in the future.
Losing a filling from your tooth can be quite a traumatic event, especially if it comes out while you’re eating and you accidentally bite down on it.
Normally when parts of our body get hurt, they get red. This is a process called inflammation. Our body sends blood and defense cells to the site of injury so that our body can begin the healing process. This works great on most parts of the body. However, sometimes it’s not so good when it happens inside our teeth.
