Pulpotomies

My child has some decay. On one of the teeth, the dentist said, not to worry about it because it is a baby tooth, yet on another baby tooth he thinks she needs a pulpotomy. Why the different treatments? When I asked my daughter’s dentist he looked at me like I was an idiot.

Patty

Dear Patty,

I am glad you wrote. Before I answer your question, I want you to know it was completely unfair of your daughter’s dentist to respond to you that way. It is the job of a pediatric dentist to not only care for your child’s teeth, but to also answer your questions and make sure you understand why he recommends a certain treatment as well as all the options available. If he or she is not willing to do that, then it is time to get a new dentist for your child.

I haven’t seen your daughter’s x-rays, but I can take an educated guess as to the difference in treatments. With some baby teeth. it doesn’t matter if they come out early, because there won’t be too much time between the time the tooth is lost and when the adult tooth comes in.

The exception to that is with back molars. Your daughter’s adult molars will not come in until she is around twelve years old. When a space is left open that long, the adjacent teeth begin to shift into the empty space. The problem with that occurs when her twelve-year-old molars start to come in. Now that space isn’t open any longer. leading to overcrowding. Then you’ll be faced with orthodontics in her near future. Let’s avoid that if at all possible

How a Pulpotomy Helps

A pulpotomy is essentially the child’s version of a root canal treatment. By doing a pulpotomy, it protects and saves the tooth so it can stay in place until it is time for her adult molar.

If decay is left too long, it will be too late to save the tooth. When that happens, the space still needs to be reserved. In that case. your dentist will extract the tooth, but place a space maintainer there in order to keep the spot open.

This blog is brought to you by the Lafayette, LA Dentists Drs. Foreman and Thimmesch.