At Children’s Dental Group, our Santa Ana children’s dentist knows that young children can lose their baby (primary) teeth, and even immature permanent teeth, when the pulp, the living tissue inside a tooth, becomes infected. This is often the result of tooth decay, or trauma, and creates a unique problem for your child. The primary teeth provide significant guides for the newly developing permanent teeth that will replace them. An injury that results in loss of young permanent teeth is even more troublesome, because neither, tooth development or jaw growth, is complete. If your child’s teeth are lost prematurely, a malocclusion, or bad bite, can easily be the result. Tooth replacement methods such as bridgework, partial dentures, and dental implants, cannot easily be used in children since everything is changing and growing at such a rapid pace. Space maintainers, that are custom-made appliances that can be attached to adjacent teeth, or designed as a retainer, are generally the best choice. Yet, as our Santa Ana children’s dentist will explain, these appliances do not restore function, and constant monitoring is required.
For both functional and cosmetic reasons, our Santa Ana children’s dentist prefers root canal treatment over tooth loss. In this case, root canal therapy for kids can preserve tooth, jaw, and tongue function. In addition, speech problems can also be prevented, as well as abnormal eruption of a permanent successor tooth, or even the loss of a tooth that has no successor.
Baby teeth are lost naturally due to the pressure of the permanent teeth erupting from below. Several things are different when dealing with primary teeth versus permanent teeth. Their survival is shorter and much more temporary, but while their structure, shapes, and functioning are similar to permanent teeth, they also have differences. Treatment of root canal problems is affected by root resorption, which is the normal process by which the body absorbs the roots of the baby teeth. This will allow for eruption of your child’s succeeding permanent teeth. This complicates the diagnosis and, in turn, the appropriate treatment. Our Santa Ana children’s dentist will discuss all the pros and cons with you, as well as your child’s specific case, so the proper course of action can be taken.