Kid’s Damaged Teeth May Need a Different Approach Than Adults’

Root canal treatment can help save your tooth if it is decayed or injured. Although a traditional root canal treatment is the best course for saving a damaged adult tooth, for kids, there may be variations of the procedure. A dentist will have to check the severity of the damage and recommend the most suitable treatment.

Tooth’s Pulp in Kids

The inner pulp is often the focus of root canal treatment. Often, the inner pulp plays a crucial role in the development of a kid’s teeth. When the dentin layer first erupts in kids, it has not fully developed. The dentin layer is the living tissue making up most of the roots and body of a tooth. This pulp increases the size and amount of the dentin layer over time alongside the jaw development. Since a full root canal procedure removes the entire pulp tissue, it may interrupt the remaining dentin development among young kids. As a result, a child may have poorly formed roots or even unhealthy teeth. Therefore, a dentist will use variations of the root canal procedure for the case of an immature permanent tooth.

Root Canal Variations for Kids

When treating a damaged pulp in kids, a dentist aims at exposing or removing as little of the pulp as possible. If the pulp is not exposed by injury or decay, the dentist only removes the soft decayed or injured part of the dentin and leaves the harder dentin found nearer the pulp intact. In the event that the pulp is partially exposed, the dentist may use the pulpotomy procedure that only extracts the exposed tissue before placing calcium hydroxide to stimulate dentin growth. To get more information about root canal treatment for you or your kid, make an appointment with our periodontist. We will determine what kind of treatment you or your kid needs for damaged teeth. Often, root canal treatment can delay or prevent the removal of your kid’s tooth.