Post-Treatment Instructions

Silver Amalgam Restorations Care

We have just placed silver amalgam restorations in your teeth. This high quality material should provide you with years of service. However, you should be aware of the following information about your new restorations:

CHEWING: They do not have their maximum strength for 24 hours. Chew only soft foods on the new restorations until that time.

SENSITIVITY: Metals conduct heat and cold faster than tooth structure. Therefore, you may experience sensitivity to hot and cold foods a few days to a couple of weeks. This sensitivity should begin to gradually disappear. If it does not do so, please contact us.

RECALLS: Visit us at regular six-month recall periods. Often problems that are developing around the restorations can be found at an early stage and corrected easily, while waiting for a longer time may require redoing the entire restoration. We will contact you when it is time for your recall.

PREVENTIVE PROCEDURES: Use the following preventive procedures that are checked:

Brush and floss after eating and before bedtime.
Swish vigorously for at least 30 seconds daily with one of the following products: (1) Colgate FLUORIGARD; (2) Johnson & Johnson ACT; or (3) LISTERMINT with Fluoride. The best time is immediately before bedtime (.05% neutral sodium flouride)
Swish vigorously with .2% neutral sodium fluoride. (This requires a prescription from us.)
Use a Water Pik

THE FUTURE: Small silver amalgam restorations will serve for many years in your mouth. However, larger silver amalgam restorations may break, or the tooth structure around them may break in the future. In this event, the involved tooth or teeth would require a crown (cap) for optimum strength. The restorations we just placed in your mouth were:

Small with optimum longevity potential.
Moderate to large with good longevity potential.
Very large and with questionable longevity potential.

AGGRESSIVE CHEWING: Do not chew ice or other very hard objects. Avoid chewing very sticky "hard tack" candy because it can remove restorations.

PROBLEMS: IF ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS OCCURS, CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY TO AVOID FURTHER PROBLEMS:

A Feeling of movement or looseness in the restoration.
Sensitivity to sweet foods.
A peculiar taste from the restoration site.
Breakage of a piece of material from the restoration.

We have done our best to provide you with the finest quality oral restoration available today. However, as with a fine automobile or watch, only our continuing care and concern can assure optimum service longevity.

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