My Experience at Brickworks Dental — A Same-Day Filling Failure

I visited Brickworks Dental on 25 February 2025 at 12:49pm for a small filling on a chipped tooth. The consultation and procedure took about 15 minutes. It was presented as a routine treatment.

By 5:10pm — less than five hours later, without having eaten anything — the filling completely fell out after I drank water.

Water.

It likely dislodged entirely and may have been swallowed. From that moment on, I experienced sharp, shooting pain in the exposed tooth every time I drink.

A basic dental filling that cannot even withstand a few hours — without chewing or pressure — is deeply alarming.

A filling failing within hours raises obvious questions:

• Was the bonding properly done?

• Was the tooth adequately prepared?

• Was moisture control sufficient?

• Was the material cured correctly?

While complications can occur in dentistry, a same-day total failure is not what most patients would reasonably expect from a basic filling procedure.

I called the clinic immediately. They were already closed.

The next morning, I requested that the head dentist, Dr Chua Ru Hong, redo the filling without charge, since it had failed on the very same day.

I was told:

• If Dr Chua handled it, I would have to pay again.

• I had to return to the original treating dentist instead.

Pay again — for a filling that did not even last half a day.

I also requested that the clinic inform Dr Wu Liting about my case. The receptionist refused. I was then told Dr Wu is only available on Wednesdays, meaning I would have to wait until 4 March 2026 while continuing to suffer sharp pain every time I drink water.

So my options were:

• Remain in pain and wait nearly a week, or

• Pay again to fix something that had just failed.

That is extremely difficult to accept.

While no medical procedure comes with an absolute guarantee, it is entirely reasonable to expect a routine filling to last longer than a few hours. It is also reasonable to expect prompt and fair handling when something fails almost immediately.

Instead, I was left feeling dismissed and unsupported while dealing with ongoing pain.

This experience was both physically painful and deeply frustrating. Based on what happened, I cannot recommend this clinic. Readers can draw their own conclusions.