Your Child Might Need a Pulpotomy To Preserve a Baby Tooth Before the Adult Tooth Is Ready

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Your child’s teeth have their own schedule for coming in preparing the way for adult teeth later. Still, these baby teeth are important because they maintain the space in their jaw for the adult teeth to finish developing and emerge when ready. If the primary tooth is unhealthy because of deep tooth decay or injury impacting the soft tissues (pulp) inside the tooth before the adult tooth can come in, then our pediatric dentists may advise a pulpotomy. This is a minimally invasive procedure on your child’s primary tooth.

Looking Inside a Tooth

You only see the outer part of a tooth with its tooth enamel covering, shielding the cementum layer below it, the dentin. Underneath the cementum lies the tooth pulp containing blood vessels, nerves, connective tissue and regenerative cells. When that area is damaged, a “baby root canal” can save the tooth until its adult counterpart is ready to take its place in the mouth. Part of the problem is that the pulp chamber is big so it’s easy to get to if the outer covering breaks or decays leaving the pulp painfully inflamed and infected.

Pulpotomy Basics

If your child needs a pulpotomy, our pediatric dentists can help. Your child will be made as comfortable as possible through careful numbing of the area to be treated. Any damaged segments of the crown will be taken out followed by the diseased pulp tissue. Our dentist then uses a type of medication to repair the remaining tooth pulp. This destroys the bad bacteria and helps the nerves feel better again. Then the tooth is ready for a crown to restore its function. This can be achieved using a cost-effective stainless-steel crown that will fall out when the adult tooth comes in.

Call Today!

A pulpotomy keeps the affected tooth alive so it can finish developing. Our dentist, Dr. Armand Begian and associates, can fix the problem tooth and put an end to the pain and infection. Call us today if you need help with your child’s smile!