primaryteeth

Many people believe that baby (primary) teeth are
unimportant to care for or maintain. The truth is that baby
teeth can decay and can cause pain if they are left in a state
of disrepair. It is important for children to see the dentist and
to have fillings done if they have areas of decay. Some
baby teeth remain in the mouth up to and sometimes beyond
age 12! Therefore it is very important to take care of the
teeth both at home and at the dental office.

There are times when a primary tooth is removed from the
mouth before the adult tooth is ready to come in. This can
happen because of an accident or trauma, or the tooth may
be so severely decayed that it is not restorable. In the event
that a child loses a tooth prematurely, it is very important that
an appliance called a space maintainer be put in place to
hold open the space so that the other teeth do not shift. If the
other teeth shift, when the adult teeth are ready to erupt, they
may be forced to come in crooked because there is not a
space for them in the child's mouth (see photo). A space
maintainer is a metal bar which holds the teeth on either
side of the space in position and avoids crowding.

When the adult tooth is ready to come in, the dentist will
remove the space maintainer.