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Parents commonly ask whether it is necessary to fill a cavity in a child’s baby tooth since they are temporary. The simple answer is YES! Baby teeth are only around for a couple of years, but they not expendable. Keeping them healthy and intact until they fall out naturally has a major impact on a child’s health and the correct positioning of permanent teeth.
A child has twenty primary (baby) teeth which form in the jaw before birth and begin to appear in the mouth at about four or five months of age… just about the time he is ready to begin tasting solid foods. These first teeth are not only important for chewing and nutrition, but for proper development of facial muscles and speech. As you might imagine, losing baby teeth too early can have long term effects, lasting well into adulthood.
Baby teeth are also space holders for the permanent teeth which are developing under the gums. When a permanent tooth is sufficiently developed, the roots of the baby tooth it will replace begin to dissolve, causing it to loosen. Gradually, the permanent tooth pushes the primary tooth out and takes its place. Occasionally a child may have a baby tooth that never develops, in which case there will usually be no permanent tooth under it either. More commonly, a baby tooth may be present but no permanent tooth has developed under it; when this occurs, many times the baby tooth roots never dissolve and the tooth is never lost. These conditions are called “hypodontia” and they rarely present major dental problems, especially when a dentist detects them early and is able to help parents plan ahead.Image may be NSFW.
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When a primary tooth is lost too soon, the permanent tooth has no guide to follow. To complicate matters, when there is nothing to fill the space left by a missing baby tooth, the space may begin to close causing the permanent replacement to erupt into the wrong position. The result can be crowded permanent teeth which may lead to speech disturbances and and bite problems that may require braces (orthodontics) to correct. A dentist can often prevent these complications by placing a small device called a space maintainer in the child’s mouth until the permanent tooth begins to erupt.
Sometimes, when a cavity in a primary tooth is small and the tooth is likely to be lost naturally before it causes any pain, the dentist will recommend simply “keeping an eye on it” to spare the child any discomfort from the filling procedure. Occasionally early tooth decay can even be completely repaired by just using fluoride on a regular basis. Advanced cavities must be addressed more aggressively because can be very painful for kids, just as they are for adults – they can even cause severe, life threatening infections.Image may be NSFW.
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Regular dental checkups are important and they can help detect small cavities early when they can be most easily repaired. Baby teeth are usually a nice, bright white color when they are healthy; so parents should be on the lookout for suspicious brown spots or other discolorations on their child’s pearly whites and be alert to signs that the child might be experiencing mouth discomfort.
The American Dental Association recommends that children have their first “well baby” dental visit before their first birthday…because preventing cavities and trauma is the best way to ensure that a child will keep his baby teeth intact until the tooth fairy is ready to claim them (rumor has it that she isn’t paying out that well these days anyway!).Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
