We are a pediatric dentist that treats children of all ages. One thing we always like to remind parents of is that their children's baby teeth are incredibly important. Even though they are only supposed to last for a short period of time, they serve an important role in allowing your child to eat a healthy diet and for establishing clear speech patterns. Their baby teeth also hold a spot for the new adult tooth to come in. If your child develops a cavity or infection, or if they damage their tooth, we invite you to visit Columbia Advanced Dental Studio immediately. This will allow us to examine them before making a treatment recommendation for how we can restore it.
There are several types of restorations and the one that we select will be based on the extent of the damage and the age of your child. Regardless, we can typically save their natural tooth using one of these procedures:
Dental bonding
If a child cracks or chips a tooth, we can restore it so that the tooth remains in place without needing an extraction. While most adults consider veneers or a crown, the most popular option for children is dental bonding. When a veneer or crown restores a tooth, we need to remove a portion of the enamel first. This makes the procedure permanent. Additionally, since a veneer covers the entire front of the tooth and a crown surrounds the tooth, if the damaged tooth is still growing, the patient will be able to see the difference in materials in a short while.
On the other hand, when we perform a bonding procedure, we do not need to remove any of the enamel. It also works well for growing teeth because we place the tooth-colored material on the tooth and shape it into place. It does not need to cover the entire tooth so as the child's teeth grow, they can leave the bonding in place or have it taken off for a different procedure. Bonding provides them with more long-term options.
Crowns
If a child has a severe infection, a pediatric dentist can perform a root canal in the same way with an adult tooth. We will typically use some level of sedation and pain relief so that the child feels comfortable the entire time and so that they relax. Once we remove the infection, we can place a crown on their tooth so that your child can bite down without fear of discomfort. This process is to ensure that the child's tooth does not need complete extraction and so that it can remain intact.
We offer other restorative solutions as well, but all of them serve to help us keep their teeth in place for as long as possible. It is important to do so because of the fact that their baby teeth hold a spot for the adult ones. If they fall out too quickly, the remaining teeth can shift out of place and crowd out the spot that was supposed to be for the adult tooth, creating a need for braces later on. Regardless of what dental issues your child faces, as a pediatric dentist, we are here to help.
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