Why do we need to fill a cavity in a baby tooth- isn’t it just going to fall out anyway?
Baby teeth aren’t designed to last forever, we all know that eventually all 20 of those teeth (for most people) are going to be replaced by (hopefully) lifelong lasting adult teeth. I’ve had many parents ask after I’ve found cavities in their child’s teeth whether or not we really “need” to do anything about those cavities. In order to better understand why we’d want to restore those cavities and keep these teeth disease free- let’s talk about the major functions of baby teeth.
Eating- teeth are of course helpful for chewing our food- processing the food we eat before it enters the rest of our digestive system. A varied diet is important for the overall growth and development of a child.
Speech development- though speech is possible to form without the presence of teeth, when early speech is being developed, it is more easily done in the presence of teeth. Losing a tooth early at say age 5 is a lot different from having them extracted at age 2 (yes, this does happen) and phonation is a critical part of speech development; it would be best to keep teeth where they should be as long as they would naturally be.
Space maintenance- each baby tooth is holding a space in the dental arch for an erupting permanent tooth. If lost early, crowding out of permanent teeth can occur if not maintained properly by a dental intervention which causes more complicated orthodontic issues in the future.
Comfort & safety- dental caries is the most common childhood disease and the number one reason that children miss a day of school. Pain can limit a child’s ability to eat, speak and sleep properly. When cavities get large they can cause pain and as they grow they can even cause infection. Infection can spread to other areas of the body potentially compromising a child’s airway or ocular health.
Establishing a healthy microbiome for adult teeth to erupt into. While all of these factors matter, perhaps one of the most important is that the health of the primary teeth has a direct effect on the health of the permanent teeth. A health microbiome with less virulent bacteria can lead to an improved quality of oral health throughout a person’s lifetime.
Baby teeth matter & your child’s dental health matters even from a very young age- the better they learn to care for their teeth as children the greater the chances their oral health will remain good over their lifetime. So let’s work together to help them keep their teeth as healthy as possible.