Dental Restorations
Prevention is always our number one goal in dentistry, but sometimes, accidents happen no matter how hard parents try. Tooth decay is one of the most common chronic childhood illnesses! Your child's smile is in good hands with Dr. Javan's restorative treatments.
What is restorative dentistry?
Restorative dentistry is the practice of repairing or replacing damaged or missing teeth. In children, this could refer to their primary or permanent teeth (baby teeth). Although a child's primary teeth will eventually fall out, keeping them healthy until they do is important.
Some goals of pediatric restorative dentistry include:
- Preventing decay
- Stopping decay from spreading to other teeth
- Ensuring children can eat, drink, and speak easily
- Promoting good oral health
Types of pediatric dental restorations
Our office's most common pediatric dental restorations include fillings, dental crowns, space maintainers, and extractions.
Fillings for Children
Bacteria, sugar, and acidic foods can all eat at the enamel of your child's teeth. If left to sit on their teeth over time, they can cause tooth decay - also known as a cavity. When your child gets a cavity, it's important to fill it to prevent the decay from spreading to surrounding teeth.
Most cavities can be treated with simple fillings of silver amalgam or tooth-colored composite resin when diagnosed early. The filling replaces the decayed portion of your child's tooth and can last many years with proper dental maintenance.
Dental crowns for children
If tooth decay is too extensive to be treated with a filling, we must use a dental crown. A crown is a custom protective cap made in the shape of the original tooth. Crowns can help to save teeth from early extraction.
When placed over a baby tooth, a dental crown will protect it until it falls out naturally. On permanent teeth, crowns will remain in place for many years.
Pulp Therapy
When a tooth is cracked or has a deep cavity, bacteria can enter the pulp tissue, and germs cause an infection inside the tooth. When this occurs, a pulpotomy "baby root canal treatment" is necessary to save the tooth.
A restoration, frequently a crown, will be placed over the treated tooth. If left untreated, an abscess may form. If the infected tissue is not removed, pain and swelling can result. This cannot only injure your child's jawbones, but it is also detrimental to his or her overall health.
Space maintainers for children
If children lose their teeth early (or never grow them) due to genetics, disease, or dental trauma, the surrounding teeth can encroach on the open space. To prevent this from happening, we use space maintainers to hold teeth in their proper positions.
A space maintainer may be made of metal or acrylic and can be fixed or removable. It will remain in place until permanent teeth grow or adjacent teeth fall out.
Tooth Extraction
It is sometimes necessary to remove a tooth due to excessive decay, infection, orthodontic correction, or problems with a wisdom tooth. Sometimes a baby tooth does not fall out as it should. This can prevent the permanent teeth from erupting in the proper position.
When a baby tooth is lost prematurely, a space maintainer may be recommended to hold the space where the permanent tooth will eventually erupt.