Can someone help please?
1. I have a rear lower molar which gave me no trouble until 18 months
ago when my dentist filled it.  Since then it hurts when pressure is
applied (e.g. chewing) - but only to the center of the rear of the
filing itself.
2. I can bite really hard on the raised edges of the tooth (e.g.
eating steak or biting heavily on a flat plastic block) with no pain
or problem whatever.  But if I eat something that fills the hollow of
the tooth and the one above (e.g. crisps) then I only have to bite
gently and there is consideble pain.
3. Similarly, if i bite something hard and small (like a small nut or
fruit and fibre flakes) then these tend to hit the sore spot and again
really hurt.
4. If I press all over the tooth witha plastic pen top its all fine -
appart from the small spot on the filling itself.  I only have to push
on that very gently to make it hurt.
5. The filling is a white one and it replaced a previous amalgam one
(which had given me no trouble).
6. My dentist says it is not a deep filling (but it originally
extended to three sides of the tooth) and he cannot work out what the
problem is.
7. My dentist removed part of the filling and replaced it - and
extended it to the top of fouth side of the tooth (effecively removing
the rear top quarter of the tooth) - but that did not help.
8. At my last visit he tried shamfering the back corner of the tooth
to see if that helped - but it has not.
9.  He says that the nest approach is probably a root canal - but I am
reluctant to go through that if there is a simpler explanation - so I
continue to chew offending items on my other side.
It just seems odd to me that it gave me no trouble before the fling -
and that the pain is limited to one small tender area on the filling
itself - with the surrounding tooth standing up to all sorts of heavy
pressure with no problem at all.
Has anyone got any ideas please?
Thanks, Chris