A child’s primary teeth (or baby teeth) naturally fall out between 6 to 12 years old, but a lot can happen within that span of time. As kids grow more active, inquisitive, and sometimes stubborn, they’ll eat one too many sweets, damage their baby teeth during rough play, and so on. So, while Walker Pediatric Dentistry’s dental services for kids in Salt Lake City focuses on preventive work on baby teeth, we can also handle tooth extractions.
The Case for Tooth Extractions
Tooth extractions are a last resort, only recommended by dentists when damaged teeth are beyond the help of restorative procedures, such as when poor oral hygiene escalates into the damaged core portion of the tooth (the pulp), causing severe pain and sensitivity to certain types of food.
Depending on the dentist’s recommendation and if a pulpectomy is out of the question, injury-related tooth problems may also require an extraction because damaged nerves or blood vessels in the tooth can hinder the proper development of permanent teeth.
Braces and Extractions
Correcting teeth alignment at a young age sometimes involves tooth extractions beforehand, especially when there is a crowding problem in the child’s mouth. Extractions make room for permanent teeth to grow in without crowding, and the braces ensure that teeth are properly aligned.
An extraction procedure is relatively straightforward, taking only about 30 minutes at most. Our dentists will advise parents to observe restrictions on what their kids can eat or drink at home, as well as prescribe pain medication, should their child need it.
Tooth extractions need not make kids nervous or scared. Count on Walker Pediatric Dentistry’s kid-friendly dentists in Utah to make sure children go through their procedures stress-free.