<s>[INST] My dentist told me I had a cracked filling and she was going to refill it. Do all cracked fillings have to have crowns or root canals bit anxious and worried.... Is a cracked filling always a cracked tooth or just the filling and do they always mean root canals if its the filling?? [/INST] Hi,Thanks for query, Cracked filling means you had filling of tooth before and filling is broken due to hard chewing or after the space of passing time filling is broken. If tooth is otherwise alright dentist will remove old filling and again go for filling.crown or root canal treatment is not always necessary. Ok and bye. </s>