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There are essentially two types of lost fillings:
1. A filling that is recently done, may fail to stay in for some reason. The newer "plastic" white fillings can fall out if they were poorly bonded to the tooth. In that case, a simple "re-bonding", with more attention to detail, will usually fix the problem.
2. A filling that is old may be lost when new decay around the filling's edges goes unnoticed. If you lose and old filling and do not have pain - DO NOT JUST LET IT GO! If you avoid the dental office for more than a month after a filling falls out, you are most certainly going to have a bigger project to repair and probably a much bigger investment in saving the tooth. Leaving a lost filling out for more than 3 months will almost insure the need for a root canal or extraction.
WHAT TO DO?
If the tooth doesn't hurt, then call your dental office during the next normal business day and asked to be seen for an evaluation of the problem.
If the tooth hurts, then call your dentist at home and they will have solutions to get you out of pain.
If you are away from home, you can find temporary dental cements and temporary filling materials in the dental section of any pharmacy. Use them as directed and then see a dentist when it is feasible.
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