Ask The Dentist- Does My Child Need a Tooth Extraction?
Ask the Dental Experts
Our philosophy is to help our patients achieve and maintain exceptional dental health. We work hard to make sure that our level of care is deserving of our patients’ respect and confidence. Our tradition of preventive dentistry is the basis for all service and care in our practice. We welcome all questions and comments regarding dentistry in the hope that we increase your dental "IQ" and help you make better dental health decisions.
My 4yr old son has an abscessed tooth. I've taken him to the dentist and he said that it will need to be extracted. Considering it is one of his front teeth, I am not so thrilled. From reading your article I have learned that there are two types of abscessed teeth, and that one option to treat is a root canal. Considering that none of this info was explained to me, I'm wondering is a root canal an option at all times or is there a point when it's too late?
There are always several options for treatment. On a growing child, age and growth have to be considered. If you are referring to one of the incisors up front, that tooth will likely be lost normally between 5 – 7…. Lots of variation in these ages, but this generally fits. So, if your child is a “young” 4 year old, he is going to normally lose that tooth in 2-4 years, depending on his rate of growth dentally.
So, you have to decide what is the most logical treatment for that amount of time… with an abscessed tooth on a child of that age, usually taking the tooth out is probably most practical. You can probably already at his age look around the classroom and see kids beginning to lose baby teeth…. So a kid missing one front tooth at that age is common. So we tend to go in this direction for most kids.
However, if either you or the child is very touchy about the fact that he will be missing a front tooth before other kids in the class, it might be possible to treat the tooth endodontically. There is kind of a partial root canal that is commonly done on baby teeth – a pulpotomy, that will keep teeth for some time. Also, depending on the degree of the infection, a root canal could be done (not a pulpotomy, but the real deal as if it were a permanent tooth) and have the infection heal. If it will heal, then theoretically that tooth could be left alone until the other front tooth is getting loose, and then you would have to make sure they came out about the same time. If all went well, this approach would work. There is a risk, depending on the degree of the problem of having some degree of failure and the possibility of damaging the permanent tooth growing above it…
All in all, it depends on the degree of the problem, the simplicity of care, the behavior of the child as a dental patient, the exact age of the kid… as I said, most of the time it would be most practical to take the tooth out, but there are other options. You need to ask some questions of your doctor that saw your child to hear your options.
Chuck Campbell, DDS
713-795-5905
Our philosophy is to help our patients achieve and maintain exceptional dental health. We work hard to make sure that our level of care is deserving of our patients’ respect and confidence. Our tradition of preventive dentistry is the basis for all service and care in our practice. We welcome all questions and comments regarding dentistry in the hope that we increase your dental "IQ" and help you make better dental health decisions.
My 4yr old son has an abscessed tooth. I've taken him to the dentist and he said that it will need to be extracted. Considering it is one of his front teeth, I am not so thrilled. From reading your article I have learned that there are two types of abscessed teeth, and that one option to treat is a root canal. Considering that none of this info was explained to me, I'm wondering is a root canal an option at all times or is there a point when it's too late?
There are always several options for treatment. On a growing child, age and growth have to be considered. If you are referring to one of the incisors up front, that tooth will likely be lost normally between 5 – 7…. Lots of variation in these ages, but this generally fits. So, if your child is a “young” 4 year old, he is going to normally lose that tooth in 2-4 years, depending on his rate of growth dentally.
So, you have to decide what is the most logical treatment for that amount of time… with an abscessed tooth on a child of that age, usually taking the tooth out is probably most practical. You can probably already at his age look around the classroom and see kids beginning to lose baby teeth…. So a kid missing one front tooth at that age is common. So we tend to go in this direction for most kids.
However, if either you or the child is very touchy about the fact that he will be missing a front tooth before other kids in the class, it might be possible to treat the tooth endodontically. There is kind of a partial root canal that is commonly done on baby teeth – a pulpotomy, that will keep teeth for some time. Also, depending on the degree of the infection, a root canal could be done (not a pulpotomy, but the real deal as if it were a permanent tooth) and have the infection heal. If it will heal, then theoretically that tooth could be left alone until the other front tooth is getting loose, and then you would have to make sure they came out about the same time. If all went well, this approach would work. There is a risk, depending on the degree of the problem of having some degree of failure and the possibility of damaging the permanent tooth growing above it…
All in all, it depends on the degree of the problem, the simplicity of care, the behavior of the child as a dental patient, the exact age of the kid… as I said, most of the time it would be most practical to take the tooth out, but there are other options. You need to ask some questions of your doctor that saw your child to hear your options.
Chuck Campbell, DDS
713-795-5905
posted by Dental Expert at
9:04 AM
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