Most of the time in a filling that is need of replacement due to "open margins" there has been decay that is down under the filling. This is not always visible on an xray. The decay works so slow that it is usually not noticeable to the patient. The most common thing I hear all day is "but it doesn''''t hurt." This is not surprising due to the reasons that I just gave. Most first time stroke victims have no symptoms before they experience their stroke. Does this mean that there was not a problem with their heart because it didn''''t hurt? Of course not.

Anyway, when you do a procedure on a tooth, it causes inflammation. On a healthy tooth (no decay) and the filling is far enough away from a nerve, there is usually only short provoked pain to a cold or hot stimulus that disappears in just a couple of weeks. When a tooth has decay or the filling is too close to the nerve, the inflammation caused from a filling may be too much for the tooth to handle.

If there is no decay and it is far enough away from the nerve, there is a chance that the filling experience a failure while being placed. Your dentist should be able to evaluate this situation and redo it if necessary. But don''''t be mistaken, the filling could have been done just fine.