Fillings are the most common procedure in dentistry — and somehow still the one people have the most unasked questions about. How long will I be in the chair? What's actually going in my tooth? Why does it feel funny afterward? Here's the whole story, told straight.
Why a tooth needs a filling at all
A cavity is decay that has broken through the enamel, and here's the fact that drives everything else: enamel doesn't heal itself. Once decay is through, it only travels one direction — deeper — and slow is the only speed it knows. A filling removes the decayed portion and rebuilds the tooth while the problem is still small. That word "small" is the entire economics of dentistry: a small cavity today is a quick filling; the same cavity ignored for a couple of years is a crown conversation, or worse. Catching them small is the whole game.
How long does a filling take?
The headline answer: most single fillings take somewhere around 30 minutes to an hour, start to finish — and a good chunk of that is simply letting the numbing take full effect, which we never rush. A small cavity on an easy-to-reach surface runs quicker; a larger one, or one between teeth or along the gumline, takes longer. Have several cavities? We can often handle two or three neighboring ones in the same visit — one round of numbing, one appointment off work — and we'll tell you honestly when splitting into separate visits is the more comfortable plan instead.
The appointment, step by step
First, comfort: a numbing gel on the gum so even the anesthetic itself is easy, then we wait until you're genuinely, thoroughly numb — you'll feel pressure and vibration during the work, but not pain. We remove the decayed portion, clean and prepare the space, then place tooth-colored filling material in thin layers, hardening each with a small blue curing light. Last comes the part that matters more than people realize: shaping and polishing, then checking your bite with that little colored tape until the tooth clicks together like nothing ever happened. Then you're done — no downtime, back to your day.
What fillings are made of
Our standard is composite resin — the tooth-colored material — shade-matched to your tooth and bonded directly to it, which lets us preserve more healthy tooth structure than the old approach. You may also have older silver (amalgam) fillings from years past; honest word on those: they're durable, and the major health organizations continue to regard existing ones as safe — so we don't drill out old silver fillings for drama. We replace a filling when it's failing — cracked, leaking, or hiding new decay underneath — and we'll show you on the X-ray or photo why, not just tell you.
Front-teeth fillings: a different kind of careful
A filling on a back molar has one job: strength. A filling on a front tooth has two: strength and invisibility — and that second job is genuine artistry. Front teeth aren't one flat color; they're layered, slightly translucent at the edges, with their own character. So front-tooth composite work means layering shades, matching translucency, and polishing until the repair disappears in normal light. It's the same skill family as cosmetic bonding — if your front-tooth question is more about chips, shape, or gaps than decay, our veneers vs. bonding vs. whitening guide maps that territory.
Do fillings hurt?
During: no — you're properly numb, and we check before we start. After: some sensitivity is genuinely normal for a few days, occasionally a couple of weeks — a little zing with cold, mild tenderness when chewing — fading a bit more each day. That trend is the healthy pattern. Two things are not normal: a bite that feels "high" (like that tooth hits first) that isn't settling within a few days — that's a two-minute adjustment, so come let us fix it rather than chewing around it — and sharp or worsening pain, which we want to see promptly. For the kids' version of this question, our parents' guide to kids at the dentist covers how we make small fillings easy on small patients.
How long do fillings last?
Honestly: many years — often a decade or more — with the spread decided mostly by size, location, and habits. Big fillings work harder than small ones; molars take more force than front teeth; and grinding, ice-chewing, and package-opening-with-teeth shorten everything (if you grind at night, a custom night guard protects every filling you own at once). Fillings rarely fail with fireworks — they fail quietly at the edges, which is exactly what we check at your regular visits, so a worn filling gets refreshed before it becomes a broken tooth.
When a filling isn't enough
We'll always tell you straight. When a cavity is too large — or a tooth is more filling than tooth after repeat repairs — packing in more composite just sets up a fracture, and the honest fix is a crown that caps and protects the whole tooth. And when decay has traveled deep enough to reach the nerve, the tooth may need root canal treatment before it's rebuilt. Neither is a failure — they're just the right tool for a bigger job, and we'd rather match the tool to the tooth than sell you the wrong one twice.
The cheapest filling is the one you never need
Brush twice a day, floss once, go easy on the all-day sipping and grazing, ask us about sealants for deep-grooved molars, and keep your regular checkups — because the X-ray finds cavities years before your tongue does.
Got a spot that's catching food — or a checkup long overdue?
A filling visit at Old Betsy is about as low-drama as dentistry gets: honest diagnosis, thorough numbing, and a tooth that looks like nothing ever happened. Come see us at our Keene office or our Joshua office — no judgment about how long it's been, ever.