Gentle soft foods: yoghurt and a smoothie on a table

Quick answer

After a filling: avoid chewing until the numbness fades (bitten cheeks are the classic injury), expect possible mild temperature sensitivity for days to a few weeks, and return for a quick adjustment if your bite feels 'high', because a proud filling causes real pain and takes minutes to fix. After a crown: a temporary crown needs gentle treatment (no sticky or hard foods on it, floss out sideways rather than up); the final crown can feel prominent for a few days while the tongue recalibrates. Persistent biting pain, spontaneous ache, or sensitivity that worsens instead of fades warrants a review.

While you're still numb

Local anaesthetic outlasts the appointment by one to three hours. Until feeling returns: nothing to chew (cheeks and lips are the casualties), care with hot drinks you can't feel, and keep an eye on children, who find numb lips fascinating and chewable.

Fillings: the settling-in window

  • Temperature sensitivity for a few days, occasionally weeks, is common, especially with deep fillings; it should trend better, not worse
  • The high-bite test: when the numbness is gone, tap your teeth together. If the new filling meets first, or biting on it feels sharp, it's fractionally proud. This is normal, common, and a two-minute adjustment; don't soldier on, because a high filling genuinely bruises the tooth's ligament
  • Deep fillings carry an honest caveat we'll have mentioned: a tooth filled close to the nerve sometimes declares itself later, and spontaneous or night-time ache is the signal to call, not wait

Crowns: temporary and final

  • Temporary crown: it's a placeholder cemented lightly on purpose. Chew gently on the other side, avoid sticky and hard foods on it, and floss by pulling the floss out sideways rather than popping upward. If it comes off, keep it and call; re-seating is quick, and the tooth shouldn't stay exposed for long
  • Final crown: may feel large for a few days (the tongue is a drama queen with anything new) and can be temperature-aware for a week or two. The bite rule applies here too: if it strikes first, come in for the adjustment
Book a review for: bite pain that persists beyond a few days, sensitivity worsening rather than fading, spontaneous or night ache, a rough edge the tongue keeps finding, or floss that now catches and shreds at the new work. All are quick fixes caught early.