Restorative Care

Why Might My Child Need Restorative Care?

Oral health issues can follow people for all their lives, so it’s really important to stay on top of your child’s dental needs. In some cases, restorative treatment might be necessary when your child is dealing with some dental problems like cavities, chipped teeth, or even infections.

Even with a good oral hygiene routine, these dental problems can still appear and affect the health of your child’s teeth, which is why it’s so important to make routine visits to the dentist’s office from a very early age.

Restorative Treatment Options for Children

Composite Dental Fillings

If your child has a cavity, the dentist will remove the decayed area and fill the hole with a composite dental filling to restore their oral health. The goal is to return the decayed tooth back to its normal esthetic, form, and function.

Pediatric Dental Crowns

These can be necessary for bigger cavities that can compromise a tooth beyond the effectiveness of a filling and a crown is needed in order to restore the integrity of the tooth, but also to repair a broken or chipped tooth, or a primary tooth that hasn’t grown correctly.

Space Maintainers

These are used to hold the space left by a baby tooth until the primary tooth can grow, making sure the child won’t have misaligned teeth later on.

Pulpotomies
If there’s a baby tooth with a severe cavity, a pulpotomy can remove the decayed tissue that has likely reached the nerve, causing pain. Often times these are referenced by dentists as a “baby root canal.”

Extractions
Baby teeth can be extracted before they loosen on their own to allow the primary teeth to grow better, reducing misalignment problems and other dental issues. Also, when a tooth cannot be saved due to severe decay, infection, abscess, or trauma, we end up needing to remove it.

Silver Diamond Fluoride (SDF)

A liquid that can be brushed onto a cavity to stop decay. This may be beneficial for younger children, children with special needs, and it may be used to delay dental more invasive procedures until a child is older.

Pulpotomies
If there’s a baby tooth with a severe cavity, a pulpotomy can remove the decayed tissue that has likely reached the nerve, causing pain. Often times these are referenced by dentists as a “baby root canal.”

Extractions
Baby teeth can be extracted before they loosen on their own to allow the primary teeth to grow better, reducing misalignment problems and other dental issues. Also, when a tooth cannot be saved due to severe decay, infection, abscess, or trauma, we end up needing to remove it.

Silver Diamond Fluoride (SDF)

A liquid that can be brushed onto a cavity to stop decay. This may be beneficial for younger children, children with special needs, and it may be used to delay dental more invasive procedures until a child is older.