Perhaps it was a toffee, or the crust of a sandwich, and suddenly there was something small and hard in your mouth and a hole in your tooth that your tongue cannot leave alone. Here is the good news first: a filling that falls out is one of the most routine repairs in dentistry, usually put right in a single visit, and by the end of this page you will know what to do tonight, how long it can wait, and exactly what it costs.
Why did my filling fall out?
Usually for a very ordinary reason. You see, a filling is a patch, and a patch has a working life. Years of bites have leaned on it, and the place it gives way first is the join, the thin seam where the filling meets the tooth.
Think of a patched pothole. The patch is tough, but the seam around it is where the rain gets in, and one day a lorry rolls over it and out the patch pops. The edge of an old filling can leak in just that way: the seam wears open and a little decay creeps in underneath, where your toothbrush cannot reach. The filling slowly loses its grip, and the toffee just happened to be the lorry. An old silver filling that has cracked, leaked or failed is one of the everyday jobs a white filling is there to do.
Sometimes the tooth itself has changed. A crack can loosen the filling sitting inside it, and a cracked tooth that hurts when you let go of a bite is held together with a crown, because a filling would not hold it. If that sharp little twinge sounds familiar, why cracked tooth pain shows up when you release a bite explains what is going on. And sometimes it is plain wear: a large filling on a back tooth that grinds at night wears sooner than a small one.
My filling fell out: what should I do right now?
First, if the filling is still in your mouth, take it out. It cannot be stuck back in, because the hole has to be cleaned before anything new goes in, and a filling is set inside the tooth itself, never a separate piece that clicks in and out.
Then keep the area clean, and avoid biting on that tooth. The hole is a little sheltered pocket now, and food trapped there feeds the plaque that causes decay, so brush gently around it and rinse after you eat. The walls around the hole have lost the filling that was bracing them, which is why chewing on the other side is kind to them.
If the tooth is sensitive to cold or sweet things, that is the hole showing you the softer layer under the enamel, the part that passes temperature through to the nerve. Lukewarm drinks are your friend until it is covered again.
A pharmacist is a lovely person to know tonight. nhs.uk puts it simply: “If you’re in pain while waiting for a dental appointment, you can ask a pharmacist for advice on taking painkillers, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen.” A pharmacist can also give “advice on how to manage common symptoms affecting your mouth and teeth”, and “a lost filling or crown” is right there on that list. No appointment needed: just ask, and follow the packet.
Pharmacies also sell temporary filling material, a soft paste you press into the hole that firms up and covers it, so food stays out and your tongue finds something smooth instead of a sharp edge. Think of it as a lid, and only a lid: whatever loosened the filling is still underneath, so the tooth still needs a dentist.
Leave the superglue in the drawer. Household glue was never made for the inside of a mouth, and it all has to be cleaned off before the real repair can start.
How long can I leave a lost filling?
Well, that comes down to two things: pain, and a sharp edge.
If there is no pain and no sharp edge, it is not an emergency tonight. Keep it clean, chew on the other side, and ring in the morning.
Sooner is still a smaller job, though, and the pothole explains why. A pothole left all winter is bigger by spring, because the water sitting in it works at the edges. An open tooth does the same with food and plaque: the hole gives plaque a sheltered spot to sit, and plaque sitting in one place is how decay grows. So the hole that takes a small filling this week could need a larger one later.
If it hurts, or the edge is sharp enough to catch your tongue or cheek, ring us today. A lost filling leaves the tooth open and sharp, and in practice hours we replace or dress it the same day as an emergency appointment, whether or not you have been our patient before.
How does a dentist fix a lost filling?
The first thing is a proper look: the tooth examined, with an x-ray if it is needed, so the dentist knows why the filling came out, because the reason decides the repair.
When the tooth underneath is sound, the repair is simple. The tooth is numbed, so all you feel is vibration and pressure. Any decay is cleaned out, and a new white filling goes in as thin soft layers, each set hard with a blue light, then shaped and polished until your tongue cannot find the join. The shade is matched to your own tooth, and because the resin is set hard before you leave, you can eat as soon as you can feel your lip again.
Sometimes the tooth is dressed instead, sealed with a temporary filling that makes it safe and comfortable, and the lasting repair is planned and priced for a second visit, usually within the fortnight.
Now and then a filling would not be enough on its own. If too little tooth is left to hold one, the tooth needs a crown or an onlay to stop it splitting. A crown sits over the whole tooth like a thimble over a fingertip, so every bite squeezes the tooth together instead of prising it apart. If the decay has reached the nerve, the nerve is treated first: dressing or removing it is £76.60, the first stage of a root canal. The root canal itself is £550 for a front tooth or canine and £850 for a molar, which has more canals to clean, and the filling or crown goes on afterwards.
How the same-day emergency appointment runs is set out step by step on our emergency page, and if you are deciding where to go, how to be seen today by an emergency dentist in Solihull walks through the routes.
What does a lost filling cost to replace?
Two parts: the visit, then the tooth.
The emergency appointment in practice hours (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) is £27.90, the same figure as the NHS urgent charge, and it covers the examination and getting you out of pain; outside those hours it is £150. Whatever the tooth then needs is priced from the fee guide and told to you before it is done, so nothing turns up on the bill that you did not agree to.
Here is the part that surprises people. A small white filling at Designer Smiles is £76.60, the NHS Band 2 figure, on any tooth, back teeth included. On the NHS a back tooth usually gets silver amalgam; here every filling is white, priced by how much of the tooth it rebuilds:
| The repair | At Designer Smiles | On the NHS in England |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency appointment, in practice hours | £27.90 | Urgent, £27.90 |
| Small white filling, one surface | £76.60 | Band 2, £76.60 |
| Medium white filling, two surfaces | £170 | Band 2, £76.60 |
| Large white filling, three surfaces or a rebuilt corner | £250 | Band 2, £76.60 |
| Glass ionomer filling, for gum-line notches and children’s teeth | £76.60 | Band 2, £76.60 |
| Metal crown | From £332.10 | Band 3, £332.10 |
| White crown | From £450 | Band 3, £332.10 |
| Porcelain or ceramic crown | From £800 | Band 3, £332.10 |
The crowns are starting figures, and for a crown the figure for your own tooth is written down at the examination before anything is done.
Now the honest part, which we would rather you heard from us. One NHS band charge covers a whole course of treatment, however many fillings it takes, while our prices are per filling. So for one small filling the two figures match, for several in one go the NHS costs less, and if you are entitled to free NHS treatment, an NHS practice will cost you less for what it covers. The NHS charges set beside ours go through every band, and the cost of an emergency dentist in Solihull sets out the visit and the treatment after it. Payment is on the day, with 0% finance through Tabeo for the larger repairs, such as a crown.
Do I have to pay again if my filling falls out?
It depends on where the filling was done.
If it was NHS work, the NHS Business Services Authority, which handles NHS dental charges, has lovely news: “Some NHS dental treatments are guaranteed for 12 months.” Fillings top its list, and the guarantee is generous: “You’ll not be charged if any of these need to be repaired or replaced within 12 months of the original being fitted. This includes if the item has been lost.” The filling “must be replaced at the practice where the initial treatment took place”, and the guarantee does not apply if “private treatment has been received on the same tooth since the original restoration was given”, if “the restoration was intended to be temporary”, if “you were advised a different type of restoration was more appropriate”, or if “the replacement or repair is needed due to trauma”. So if your NHS filling is under a year old, the practice that placed it is your first call.
If it was private work, ring the practice that placed it too, because they know the work and their own terms.
And if that practice is a long way off now, or you would simply like the tooth seen today, you do not need to be our patient to ring us.
So there is the whole picture: a lost filling is routine, a painless one can wait for the morning, and a small hole stays a small repair when it is seen early. Call 0121 709 3821, book online, or message us on WhatsApp.
