Dawn, if your gums are receding you are definitely allergic or highly sensitive to the filling material in the tooth.

I hate to say it because i know that you have already lost teeth, as I have given up a few too, but you would be much better off simply getting the tooth extracted.

I had two molars that were driving me nuts, one giving me an awful neck pain (big amalgam in that one), and the other (composite filling in that one) causing constant swollen glands and hurting the entire right side of my jaw and face, with an earache on that side to top it off. The dentists kept telling me they could fix it but from my experience that really only means 'we can try'. For the sake of my overall health, not for the sake of my pretty teeth, I had both of those teeth pulled over the past couple months and have finally recovered. One dentist diagnosed the jaw pain/earache as TMJ (I think that's what they call it) but I was pretty sure it was the composite filling. There really aren't any methods to truly check for sensitivity to composite materials, some may do an ok job but none are perfect. I had the tooth extracted and guess what, no TMJ symptoms anymore, gone completely within two weeks. I am quite sure it was the plastic composite.

One of the primary signs of sensitivity to filling materials is the receding gums, your body is trying to get away from the material in a sense so your gums recede. It's like wearing cheap earrings that make your ears itch real bad but in this case it is in your tooth and you can't take the darn thing out for relief.