If your child loses a baby tooth due to a cavity, tooth infection or oral injury, a space maintainer is the best way to ensure their mouth continues to develop properly.
Keep Your Child’s Mouth Healthy
Minimize Post-Extraction Issues
Pain-Free, Simple Placement Process
If your child needs to have a baby tooth extracted, space maintainers are the best way to make sure that their teeth continue to develop properly. These simple, small dental appliances help prevent your child’s teeth from shifting towards the empty socket.
If a baby tooth is lost prematurely, this can result in oral development issues because primary teeth create the “path” that adult teeth follow when they erupt.
Space maintainers ensure that your child’s teeth erupt properly, minimizing issues like misalignment and crowded teeth.
Space maintainers are simple, pain-free and can be placed in just one quick appointment at Knight Pediatric Dentistry. We specialize in pediatric care for children of all ages.
A space maintainer is a special type of dental appliance that is usually made of acrylic or metal. After your child’s tooth is extracted, a space maintainer is placed in the area where your child’s missing tooth used to be. Then, it exerts gentle pressure on the adjacent teeth and prevents them from moving. This is important because teeth tend to shift toward empty sockets after one tooth is lost. If your child’s baby teeth shift, this will interfere with the proper development and eruption of their permanent teeth.
Not all kids need space maintainers after tooth loss. For example, if you have an older child and Dr. Knight determines that the permanent tooth underneath will soon erupt, it may not be necessary to place a space maintainer. However, for younger children who are still a few years away from getting their permanent teeth, a space maintainer is always recommended. Failing to get a space maintainer after a tooth extraction can lead to serious and costly complications, so it is important to make this treatment a priority.
Space maintainers don’t hurt at all. Your child may feel a bit of discomfort for a few days after the maintainer is placed, but this is normal. Once they adjust to how it feels, it will cause absolutely no pain, and your child will likely forget that it’s even there.
The primary benefit of a composite filling is the enhanced aesthetics provided by the tooth-colored material. It will blend in with the rest of your child’s teeth and be nearly indistinguishable from natural enamel. For these reasons, Dr. Knight typically recommends composite fillings to treat cavities in permanent teeth.
Cavities are caused by weak enamel that decays over time due to oral bacteria and acid. If this weak enamel is removed and replaced, the cavity can be eliminated and its progression can be stopped. During treatment, Dr. Knight will remove any damaged enamel from your child’s tooth, then replace it with a dental filling to restore its shape and function. By eliminating the weak enamel and replacing it with an inert material, the progression of the cavity can be halted.
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