Agonising pain when biting with tooth which has lost a filling

[borontrichloride]

Greetings,

I seek any advice and thank you in advance.

Last year during the summer I lost a filling - I assume it is because I chewed gum everyday because I rarely eat sugary food and/or hard/chewy food. Anyway I have stopped chewing gum.

I haven't had it treated because here in the UK the waiting list is a long time for NHS dentist registration and when I went to a private dentist they gave me a laundry list of "recommended treatments" which was just shy of £1000 which I can't afford.

Ever since this initially happened my bite has been affected - any time I bite on that side of my mouth (filling came out of left side, upper, back tooth) whereby if I bite any food during chewing, the tooth in question has a feeling of being jammed further into my gum and I get a very intense, agonising and sharp pain, (maybe the nerves?). I find it perplexing that the loss of a filling can alter the direction/angle of bite to the point where this can happen.

Additional context - I have no pain if I bite down with an empty mouth, even if I bite hard as a test. It is only when some food is in between the upper and lower jaw on the side of the filling loss and then I bite, the feeling is that of the food mass pushing against the filling loss tooth and jamming that tooth further into my gums, agonisingly painfully.

It doesn't hurt when I touch it or even when brushing my teeth. I get only minor/dull pain also when drinking hot/cold drinks or eating hot/cold food.

Any advice is of course appreciated.

Thanks so much for your time.

 

[Dr M]

Good day
Any lost filling, if left untreated for too long, has a chance of becoming carious and will then eventually lead to either root canal treatment or tooth loss. The pain you are experiencing might be due to exposed dentine only, however it is impossible to say without a clinical examination or x-rays.
My advice would be to get the lost filling replaced as soon as possible.