At the office of Cabot Children's Dentistry, our top priorities are your child's care and well-being. While we do everything we can to preserve the integrity of your child's smile, it's sometimes necessary to extract a tooth to protect a child's oral health and support their overall well-being.
In most cases, a baby tooth will fall out as scheduled as the underlying permanent one begins to erupt into place. However, occasionally a baby tooth remains firmly attached to the bone. Either the baby tooth's roots have failed to resorb and shrink as intended, or the baby tooth has become ankylosed and fused to the supporting bone. The problem is that over-retained baby teeth can disrupt your child's smile development and alignment. As we monitor your child's smile as they grow, we'll advise you if and when a primary tooth extraction is required to facilitate the eruption of its underlying permanent successor.
Although it starts as a simple pinpoint defect on the tooth's outermost enamel layer, if left untreated dental decay progressively compromises healthy tooth structure as it works its way to the tooth's inner layers. Without proper care, a cavity can destroy more tooth structure, cause irreversible damage to the dental nerve, lead to an infection, and result in severe consequences to a child's oral health and overall well-being. In cases where a tooth has sustained far too much structural damage and cannot get restored, a dental extraction may be required.
Many different types of chips, cracks, and fractures can affect the teeth. The extent of the damage the trauma causes will determine if there is enough intact tooth structure to save the tooth and the type of treatment required. When too much tooth structure is compromised, an extraction may be necessary.
A tooth size to jaw size discrepancy often results in a crowded and misaligned smile. More simply put, the upper and lower jaws are not large enough to accommodate all the permanent teeth. As part of an orthodontic treatment plan to align the teeth and establish an attractive, healthy, and functional bite, the extraction of select permanent teeth may be required.
Every child and every situation is different. As the tooth and the surrounding tissues get numbed with a local anesthetic, your child should only expect to feel a bit of pressure but no pain during the procedure. For children who are apprehensive or require more extensive procedures, we offer options in dental sedation to provide the needed relaxation and reduce any sense of discomfort.
While it's normal to feel some tenderness after an extraction, when the local anesthesia wears off, the degree of these sensations can vary. It mainly depends on the complexity of the extraction and the body's response to the procedure. In most cases, any discomfort should subside in a day or two. Over-the-counter pain medications can provide the additional relief that's needed in the short term. We'll also provide a list of post-operative instructions with "dos" and "don'ts" to help ensure healing.
