Managing an Infected Tooth with a Crown
While your little one may be brushing regularly and you are instilling great preventive health care habits, sometimes cavities or other dental concerns can still develop due to a number of other factors, including diet and more. When this occurs, your pediatric dentist may recommend a filling to restore your child’s grin. But what happens when decay or disease has progressed? In today’s blog, your Dallas, TX pediatric dentist addresses what to do in the event of an infection, including protecting teeth with a dental crown.
Removing Decay and Bacteria
When harmful oral bacteria nest in the nooks and small crevices naturally present on a tooth, they can begin to start eating away at the healthy structure, causing a weakening of its integrity. Because they tend to gather on the back molars – an area of the mouth notoriously difficult to properly clean – they can pose a real threat to that structure if not removed properly, including creating cavities. Cavities are holes in the teeth that, if left untreated, will continue to get bigger and bigger, leaving opportunity for serious decay, disease, and even tooth loss. In the early stages of a cavity, your dentist can address the issue with a dental filling. Once it has progressed past a certain point, however, it is time to consider other options.
Because your child’s teeth support effective chewing and biting, serious discomfort and frustration can arise if even one of them is compromised with a physical injury or significant decay. In the event of this, your pediatric dentist could suggest a dental crown to solve the issue. A dental crown is essentially a hollow, artificial tooth that is placed over the injured structure like a cap. The original tooth is first treated by removing the decayed portions and filed down a little to support the crown, which is then placed to effectively create a barrier over the tooth.
Protection from Outside Harm
Our office utilizes stainless steel crowns to offer extraordinary strength in your little one’s bite function. It is shaped around the structure to provide a natural, comfortable, and secure fit. This not only protects against bacteria from entering and re-infecting the structure, but prevents the total breakdown of the area affected as well, which ultimately reinforces your child’s smile.
Preserving Their Natural Structures
In addition to protecting your son or daughter’s teeth from further infection, a crown functions to allow the teeth time to heal as well. This means that your little one will not need to prematurely lose a tooth, and can carry on with regular bite function with added comfort. For more information, contact our team.
Visit Our Office
Little smiles can endure a great deal of damage, but that doesn’t mean teeth are forever lost. Contact Pediatric Dental Care at Casa Linda in Dallas, TX by calling 214-321-4880 to learn more today.
filed under: Cavities/Tooth Decay