Endodontic Treatment on Baby Teeth
Dentists perform endodontic treatment for people who experience tooth pain due to severe sensitivity or exposed tooth pulp. This procedure can be performed both on permanent and baby teeth. And even though baby teeth will fall out eventually, dentists would still opt to fix them. After all, these baby teeth occupy the spaces that permanent teeth will replace once the former fall out. Otherwise, the neighboring teeth would occupy the space and block the growth of the permanent tooth, causing it to tilt out of place.
When a patient experiences pain in his/her baby tooth, the dentist will usually provide the patient with the option of pulling it out or having root canal treatment performed instead. Accordingly, there are two types of endodontic treatment procedures for baby teeth: (1) vital pulp therapy and (2) non-vital pulp therapy.
In vital pulp therapy, the tooth in question should not be loose or characterized by abscess or swelling. Under this procedure, the dentist would only remove the decay from the tooth if the pulp is not damaged or infected. A filling is placed in the tooth to replace the decayed part while a protective material is dressed over the pulp, if exposed.
Non-vital pulp therapy is also known as root canal treatment. This procedure is resorted to when the pulp is already damaged or infected beyond repair. Here, the dentist will remove the pulp from inside the tooth. To seal it, a special filling will be placed inside the tooth. Protective materials are also placed to protect the outer tooth.