Review: Dentemp O.S. Temporary Tooth Filling

A few weeks ago, I had the extremely unpleasant experience of having a dental filling which had been placed in my wisdom tooth fall out while I was eating. I knew as soon as it fell out, because immediately a surge of pain shot through my face and throughout my head. It was absolutely awful. I immediately headed to the drugstore and bought some Anbesol gel, which certainly numbed the pain as soon as I applied it. The problem with Anbesol (and other oral numbing agents like it) is that it doesn't actually do anything to solve the problem; instead, it simply numbs the pain, and unfortunately it wears off quickly so it needs to be reapplied frequently.

I knew it was going to take me a couple of weeks to save up enough money to get to a dentist, and I needed a more permanent "fix" for my lost filling in the meantime. I headed back to the drugstore and looked more closely at the Oral Care aisle. It was during this second trip to the drugstore that I found a product called "Dentemp O.S. Temporary Tooth Filling." The package contained a small vial of putty and a white "scoop," and it stated that I could use the putty to create a temporary filling so strong I could eat on it. It also promised immediate pain relief. At $4.59, I was quite skeptical of these claims, but I was desperate to ease my tooth pain, so I decided to go ahead and buy it.

The directions were relatively straight forward. After rinsing my mouth with water to remove any loose particles, I was supposed to take a small amount of the putty material out of the vial with the white scoop and roll it into a little ball. Then, with my fingers, I would just press the putty into the hole created by the lost filling, remove the excess material, then rinse my mouth with water once again to "set" the temporary filling. Easy enough.

When I got the putty in my hands, it reminded me very much of the "sticky tack" material we used to use in elementary school to hang things on the wall. When I went to put the Dentemp O.S. material in my mouth, I was surprised how easy it was to fill the hole in my tooth completely and remove the excess material with just the pressure of my finger. After just a few seconds of working with the Dentemp material, the temporary filling was in place and my tooth once again had a smooth, closed surface instead of a gaping hole. Even more noticeable was the fact that as soon as the Dentemp was in place, my tooth pain subsided immediately. I was very impressed.

I waited a few hours before trying to eat anything, but when I did, the Dentemp temporary filling stayed in place just like the package said it would. The temporary filling also held up to repeated brushings, which I found especially impressive. My Dentemp filling didn't really start to chip until about a week after I put it in place, which was easily remedied by just placing a very small amount of the material over the chip. The single vial I bought said it has enough Dentemp material to replace 10 lost fillings, but based on the amount I used, I think it could actually replace many, many more...you need such a small amount, it is almost unbelievable.

With the help of Dentemp O.S. Temporary Tooth Filling, I was able to wait 3 weeks to see a dentist when I lost my filling with relatively little discomfort. I still find it hard to believe how such an inexpensive, unassuming little product I almost looked over could work so well. If you have lost a filling and need to buy yourself some time to get to the dentist, I would highly recommend this product from Dentemp. For less than five dollars, I promise it will be one of the best purchases you will ever make.