On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 13:50:47 +0100, Derek ^
wrote:


I noticed from being about 15 (1962) onwards that a large tooth never
received a small filling. Reading up in a medical library it seams it
was accepted practice at the time to cut out all the fissures on the
biting surface of back teeth once *any* decay had started. As they
fail around the edges they have to be replaced with bigger fillings.
Eventually there's little more than the 4 corners left, which break
off under biting forces.

Restoration is still possible with screws and pins etc but all in all
there's less and less tooth material to protect the pulp which sooner
or later gets infected. That's what happened to my back teeth.

These days an inlay or crown can be made up on the spot with a 'CEREC
3D' machine.

The ceramic is supposed to have the same coefficient of expansion as
the underlying tooth, and the machine allows the right gap for the
bonding resin (this might be the OP's problem).

Loads of info on Google, my dentist has it:

http://www.kingstondentalcare.co.uk/treatments.html#cerec

Expensive but for me worth the extra money IMHO.


My general advice on dentists...:

At the end of the day, dentistry is a business (even on the NHS), it's
wise to shop around to get the best value and service for your needs.

Also it can be best to get a second (or third?) opinion before
spending a lot of money or getting something drastic done.

By spending time learning about dental care and treatment, finding the
right dentist should be a lot easier.

cheers,
Pete.