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Three Tips To Care For A New Filling And Prevent Shattering

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It's important to get a filling when your dentist says you need it in order to prevent a cavity from worsening. But once you've gotten your filling, it's also important to make sure that it doesn't get damaged by your habits. To both properly care for your filling and reduce the necessity of further dental work, don't forget these three tips.

Use A Mouth Guard While Participating In Contact Sports

The biggest non-dietary threat to your filling is shattering as a result of a sudden blow to your jaw. While your jaw generally isn't in danger under normal circumstances, rough contact sports present many opportunities for significant damage. When it comes to fillings, getting punched and falling down are equally disruptive.

Even though mouth guards can be inconvenient to use, the protection that they provide is well worth it. Don't take any unnecessary risks on an athletic field without having a mouth guard on hand that precisely fits your mouth.

Don't Eat Too Much Steak Or Other Tough Meat

While tearing apart tough foods such as steak is certainly a strain on your front teeth, it's important to also consider how much pressure the teeth in the back in your mouth sustain. Since most fillings are made in the back of the mouth, it's a good idea to moderate how much tough meat you eat in order to decrease the speed at which the enamel around filling metal erodes.

If you want to eat a lot of protein without digesting tough meat, try something softer and more malleable like eggs. Alternatively, stick to a diet of mainly vegetables and grains so that your teeth don't have to work so hard in order to break up food.

Don't Brush Too Hard

You might like to brush really hard in order to hear toothbrush bristles making contact with your teeth. But while this brushing method may be viscerally satisfying, it's actually having a counterproductive effect on your overall dental health relative to what you could be achieving with a more moderate regimen.

Both your enamel and the surface of your filling will gradually erode away in the face of very hard brushing. Therefore, you should only brush just hard enough to wipe away excess food and bacteria.

Suffering a dental emergency is never fun, especially when you consider all the dental bills you'll have to pay. Instead of reacting to a problem as it appears, address the issue head on by sticking to best maintenance practices with respect to your dental filling. Talk to your dentist, such as Couchman Center for Complete Dentistry, for more information.


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