What Treating Your Child’s Cavity Means

Posted September 17, 2020

The majority of the time, protecting your child’s oral health means doing all you can to help them prevent common dental concerns, like cavities. By teaching them good dental hygiene and bringing them to the dentist for routine checkups and cleanings, you can do a lot to help them protect their smiles. However, there’s no guarantee that your child will never experience a cavity, and if they do, then safeguarding their oral health and development will mean treating your child’s cavity as soon as possible.

The importance of addressing it

The reason preventing cavities is so important to your child’s oral health is because of the potential damage that they can do to your child’s healthy tooth structure. A cavity, or hole, forms in your child’s tooth when it becomes infected by oral bacteria. This condition, known as tooth decay, is also why it’s just as important to treat your child’s cavity as soon as possible if one does develop. The threat of the decay is already present, and it will continue to get worse if it isn’t addressed promptly. Fortunately, this can often be accomplished with minimally invasive treatment if it’s addressed soon enough.

The process of saving your child’s tooth

When the cavity and decay in your child’s tooth is addressed early, the treatment process can be a highly conservative one. For many kids with cavities, proper treatment involves removing the decay and placing a biocompatible, tooth-colored filling in the cavity to restore the tooth. While the treatment process is simple, the steps are essential to preserving your child’s smile. Removing harmful oral bacteria and infected tooth structure from your child’s cavity will help stop the decay from getting worse and compromising more of the tooth’s structure.

The implications for your child’s smile

The progressively worse consequences of tooth decay can have serious implications for your child’s oral health. For example, if the tooth that has the cavity is a primary tooth, then its infection could threaten the permanent tooth that’s developing underneath it. This also means that treating your child’s cavity early can have highly beneficial implications for their immediate and long-term oral health. If the condition worsens, then saving your child’s tooth and preserving their oral health could require more extensive treatment than a tooth filling procedure.

Learn more about treating your child’s cavity

Treating your child’s cavity means not just addressing the problem now, but doing so in a way that helps maintain the proper growth and development of their smiles. To learn more, schedule an appointment by calling Pediatric Dental Care at Casa Linda in Dallas, TX today at 214-321-4880. We proudly serve patients who live around Casa Linda and all surrounding Dallas communities.