Children’s milk teeth are more vulnerable to injury and decay than permanent adults. Since they are still in their maturity stage, milk teeth are weak and do not have strong enough supporting structures. If baby teeth get extremely damaged, the pediatrician recommends a tooth extraction to save the baby more pain and high medical costs.

We outline here the various reasons for kids’ tooth extractions near you.

Overview of Baby Teeth Extractions

A pediatric tooth extraction refers to the surgical removal of a baby’s primary tooth. Children’s teeth may need extraction if they are extremely injured or from tooth decay. Pediatric tooth extraction in Houston, TX, is a prevalent procedure in children dentist Houston.

Baby molars are the most popularly removed teeth since it’s where decay occurs more than in the front teeth. Nonetheless, front teeth extraction is a simple procedure since the tooth has only one root instead of multiple roots.

Reasons For Baby Teeth Extractions

Here are the common reasons of tooth extractions near you.

Tooth Decay

Primary teeth are easy victims of tooth decay, resulting in the need for extractions. Baby molars are more prone to tooth decay as they are highly fragile. Additionally, many children fail to maintain routine oral health practices, so their teeth are more prone to tooth decay.

Untreated tooth decay in milk teeth also causes more severe oral health and overall body conditions. For example, an infected baby tooth can quickly spread the disease and affect the developing permanent teeth.

Trauma or Injury

Children’s baby teeth can also be damaged by trauma or injury, including accidents, falls, and faulty dental restorations. Also, if a baby tooth chips, breaks, cracks or gets detached from its socket, the child may experience pain and other symptoms like tooth sensitivity.

Depending on the damage severity, the Houston pediatric dentistry, can perform a pediatric pulp therapy – also baby root canal – or a complete crown to save the ailing tooth. Often, the tooth must be removed and replaced using a space maintainer until the permanent tooth erupts.

Gum Disease

Gingival tissues inevitably get inflamed with gingivitis, causing redness, swelling, and gum tissue bleeding. In addition, untreated gingivitis causes pediatric periodontal disease (PD) in the future. This is a severe infection that affects the gums and jawbone.

Severe periodontal disease causes tooth loss, receding gums, and serious bleeding. If the teeth do not fall by themselves, tooth extraction is necessary.

Impacted Wisdom Teeth

This occurs when erupting permanent teeth are stuck under the gums, causing impacted teeth. Pediatric Dentists recommend teeth extractions to minimize the chance of getting a disease or jaw misalignment.

If your kid shows early signs of having impacted teeth, the pediatric dentist Houston, TX, recommends that you remove the teeth to avoid impending oral health issues like gum disease, cavities, and tooth root shrinking.

Orthodontic Treatment

Over retained milk teeth are teeth that became loose then tightened back into the gums, inhibiting permanent teeth’ eruption. Instead, the dentist recommends extracting the extremely loosened teeth, which allows suitable eruption of permanent teeth.

Failure to remove primary teeth causes tooth crowded teeth, which commonly occurs when there is not enough space for tooth eruption.

The child may also notice adult teeth growing on top of the over-retained baby teeth, causing misaligned teeth requiring future orthodontic treatment. Premolars neighboring canines are the most removed teeth due to orthodontic reasons.

Aftercare Tips for Tooth Extraction

After the tooth extraction surgery, the child may experience mild to moderate pain. However, within several days, life returns to normal. The pediatrician may recommend the following to help minimize these pain symptoms.

Medications: These include anti-inflammatory medicines like Ibuprofen and over-the-counter antibiotics. They effectively minimize the after-surgery pain while reducing the recovery duration.

Ice Packs: There may be pain and inflammation outside the jaw, but icing the outside jaw can help reduce pain throughout the recovery process.

Soft Foods: Eating soft foods after the tooth extraction surgery, for example, cooked and mashed vegetables and smoothies, increases the patient’s comfortability. You should also not let your child use a straw when sipping drinks or vigorously spitting one week after the surgery. This may dislodge the blood clot from the extraction procedure, which may need extra dental care.