Should Baby Teeth Get Dental Crowns?

Posted June 1, 2020

Knowing that your child’s primary teeth, or baby teeth, are going to fall out eventually to make room for their adult teeth can sometimes lead to false assumptions. For instance, if a baby tooth becomes damaged or compromised in some way, parents may not think it’s important to address it since the tooth will be gone soon anyway (unless the child complains of discomfort). While it’s true that primary teeth are almost like practice teeth for your child’s smile, their presence until the moment they’re ready to fall out is vital to your child’s immediate and long-term oral health.

Why baby teeth need to be preserved

The growth and development of your child’s oral and facial structures is a delicate process. There are many different things that can impact this development, and that impact may not be obvious until later in life. Every one of your child’s primary teeth is essential to the proper growth and development of their dental ridges, setting the stage of their tooth alignment and bite function in the future. Your child’s primary tooth isn’t ready to fall out on its own until the permanent tooth structure underneath it is ready to erupt from the gums. If the primary tooth is damaged, develops a cavity, or is otherwise compromised before then, it could have serious negative consequences for your child’s future oral health.

How dental crowns help preserve them

Dental crowns are an important part of general and restorative dental care for both children and adults, and for many of the same reasons. When custom-designed to replicate a tooth and placed over its structure, a dental crown can restore most of the tooth’s function while protecting the compromised natural tooth structure. In the case of your child’s primary tooth, this also means preserving the tooth until its ready to fall out naturally, and therefore, improving the long-term growth and development of your child’s oral and facial structures overall.

Different crowns for different teeth

Because every child’s smile is different, and because primary teeth are meant to come out eventually, designing a dental crown for your child’s baby tooth is a highly customized and conservative process. The goal is to preserve the tooth, so the crown must be durable enough to support your child’s pressure. However, the crown cannot interrupt the growth or development of the underlying permanent tooth, or of the teeth that are nearest to it. For optimal results, we’ll carefully examine your child’s tooth and oral health to determine if a dental crown is the best solution, and to design one that offers optimal protection for your child’s smile.

Learn if your child’s primary tooth should be crowned

If your child’s primary (or baby) tooth is compromised before it’s ready to fall out on its own, then it may be worth protecting the tooth with a conservative dental crown for the time being. 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.