I know I had asked about informationpertaining to the stainless steel crown my 7 yo daughter is going to have placed next week..but my MIL asked me today, why don't they just pull the baby molar, and place a spacer?

Which is more beneficial though?

The Pedi dentist told me today that the crown and baby root canal will take about an hour???(yikes)..and I would assume the tooth being extracted instead would take only 5 minutes.

So what are the benefits of having the crown over an extraction, if the tooth is going to fall out someday anyway?

Thanks

Yes that sounds pretty pointless to do a root canal and a crown on a tooth that will fall out! Are you doing this for cosmetic reasons? Could your daughter live with a space?

The tooth that would hold the spacer is it a molar that would be in her mouth for a long time to come.. so it could hold the spacer till it was time for the tooth that is being extracted to come in place? Or is it a tooth that will be fallin out before the extracted tooth would come in?

Hi PaulCindy88,

I'm not a pediatric dentist. I am trying to imagine what they consider is important. I can imagine why people might want to do a root canal on a baby tooth.

I can also imagine that the training of such a person is overly technical and is sadly distant from understanding human existence at age 7.

I feel that a root canal is a terrible procedure and can cause terrible damage to the body whether it's done on a 7 yr old or a 70 yr old.

I have had root canal treatments myself and suffered a great deal of harm over the long term from them.

I suggest a nutritional approach and just let the tooth fall out and die if it must. I think the body would reject it if there's a problem.

At worst, I might have it pulled, but if it was my child I would not have a root canal under any circumstances. I would rather a tooth pulled than that.

All the best. Whichever treatment option you decide upon I wish you the best of health and happiness.

Sebastian Reed

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The tooth is a molar. It is on the bottom right side of her mouth. It is not scheduled to fall out until the ages of 11-13. She is only 7 yo now. No, you cannot see the tooth at all.

I have heard that there are lots of problems with spacers. But I do not know much about them. If they were to pull it, over placing a crown, how does a spacer work, exactly? Someone had said it can imbed itself into the gums and cause pain. I do not want this to happen to my 7 yo.

As far as the rooth canal, they claim it is nothing like an adult root canal due to the very small roots.

Thanks for the advice

The root canal in the child is indeed no way like an adult root canal. It is called a pulpotomy. Natural teeth are the best space maintainers we have for permanent teeth. If the pediatric dentist is confident the tooth can be saved with a stainless steel crown and puploptomy, that is the way I would go. Extracting the tooth with no spacer is the worst thing you could do, because your child would lose the space for the permanent tooth that is not scheduled to come in for 4 or 5 years. I think a spacer is a good option only when the bad tooth is hopeless to restore.

John,
That is what my feeling is on it as well. I would like to see them save the tooth, and I guess the pedi dentist says it can be saved. The tooth has not bothered her at all! Thanks for the advice.

I would have to say the same thing if you can save the tooth save it...my son has had several rootcanals and also has 2 spacers..the spacers aren't the easiest thing to live with..you got to watch everything he sticks in his mouth (nothing chewy, gummy or hard till the spacers come out.. their in till around the age of 12)! You also got to make sure that you get all the food out from under the spacer each time you brush. Make sure their not gettin loose, etc...The one spacer was only in for a couple weeks and it fell out. My son was 5 when he had his dental work done and he didn't have any problems with the rootcanals.