I have caught a chill/head cold, should I put off having a filling on Tuesday?

[oldcodger]

I will decide tomorrow but I am tempted to put the filling off because I don’t want to give a virus to the dentist, but I wonder if I did have a filling if the germs/virus could be retained in the filled tooth.

Although I am self isolating and hadn’t seen anyone for 5 days, the head cold started on Thursday, a bit of a headache and I felt a bit flu-ish, no other real symptoms except maybe a bit tired. I have felt a bit better since. I am in my 70s and after I had a shower on Wednesday I took my time getting dressed, so I wonder if I caught a chill. To save money after Christmas, I turned the central heating down 3 degrees C, and on Thursday I turned it back up 2 degrees C, as it didn’t feel comfortable.

.

 

[Dr M]

Never heard of a virus being retained in a dental filling. But it is best to put off the filling until you are recovered.

 

[oldcodger]

Never heard of a virus being retained in a dental filling. But it is best to put off the filling until you are recovered.

Thanks Dr. surprisingly the dentist staff said that they would still see me, but I cancelled the appointment anyway.

 

[MattKW]

It's a courtesy to the staff to cancel, because we don't want to catch your cold. However, many patients would attend before signs and symptoms became obvious despite being infectious, and if the dental staff are following standard infection control, they wouldn't catch it. I've never caught so much as a cold in the last 40 years (except from grandchildren).