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Chewy Filling

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When Can I Eat After a Filling?

Filling a damaged or decayed tooth is a dentist’s way of restoring normal tooth function and shape. When you have a damaged tooth, your dentist may recommend a filling with you. It involves an anaesthetic to numb the tooth, removing the decay, and filling the cavity with a material preventing further decay. The people who undergo this procedure often ask, “when can I eat after a filling?” The answer depends on the extent of the tooth damage and the type of filling used, and it’s critical for people to understand how to care for a new filling for the safest, most effective results.
When Can I Eat After a Filling?
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There are basically two kinds of filling, white filling and silver filling. While it’s …show more content…

Therefore, people who get a composite filling don’t have to wait at all to eat.
$ Silver filling: Also known as amalgam fillings may take up to 24 hours to cure. Although most dentists recommend not eating for at least an hour after the procedure, many dentists advise avoiding hard or chewy food for 24 hours after having a silver filling placed.

Take Care of Your Filling
Whenever you get one or more of your teeth filled, tooth sensitivity may become an issue. This pain and sensitivity may last for hours, or even days after the procedure. Unfortunately, this may also make eating and drinking uncomfortable. However, there are some precautions you can take to minimize any pain and discomfort you have including:
1. Chew Slowly and Gently:
Chewing food generates an enormous amount of pressure on your teeth, and since a filling can make your teeth sensitive to pressure, you’ll want to chew slowly and gently to avoid any pain.
Another way to avoid pain from a new filing is to chew on the opposite side of the mouth from where your filling is.
2. Close Your Mouth When …show more content…

This will usually improve over a couple of days. In the meantime, you should close your mouth when chewing to reduce the chances of air causing you pain.
3. Avoid Sticky Foods:
You should avoid any sticky foods after a filling, especially silver (amalgam) fillings. Since silver fillings take up to 24 hours to cure. Although rare, you’ll not want to risk dislodging the new filling by chewing sticky food for a period of a few days.
4. Avoid Hot/Cold Food and Beverages:
Some people may notice that the tooth with the new filling is sensitive to hot and/or cold temperatures. This sensitivity should decrease over a few weeks. Therefore, it’s best to avoid extremely hot/cold foods and beverages during this period of time.
5. Avoid Sweets:
Sweets are loaded with fermentable carbohydrates, which combine with bacteria in your mouth to form acids. Sugary foods and beverages may trigger sensitivity, and can promote bacterial growth around the edges, or even under, a new filling.
6. Avoid Nuts, Hard Candy, and/or

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