Okay, Steel crown for baby molar or extraction? - Dental Health Message Board

paulcindy88 · 10-27-2005, 01:21 PM

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

maree_uk · 10-29-2005, 02:36 PM

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?

beanie_1122 · 10-29-2005, 08:08 PM

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?

Sebastian · 10-30-2005, 02:33 AM

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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paulcindy88 · 10-31-2005, 06:00 AM

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