Baby teeth cavities

[Madison]

Hi

My nine year old daughter has been complaining of pain over the weekend. When I looked into her mouth, I could see a couple of possible cavities on her baby teeth. I have given her some painkillers and her pain seems to be a little less but I don't really know what should be done with these cavities.

Am I right in assuming that baby teeth cavities can be left as they are because eventually baby teeth are going to fall out by themselves anyway. Is it possible that the pain she is been having is due to her adult teeth pushing through?

She has never had any dental treatment and if possible, I would like her not to have any dental treatment at such a young age. Should I take her to see the emergency dentist or wait a bit longer for the painkillers to work and maybe the pain will stop.

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

You need to take your daughter to see a dentist for an examination. If a baby tooth is decayed and causing pain and close to falling out, its usually better just to remove the baby tooth.

On the other hand, if a baby tooth is causing pain and not close to falling out, its usually better to restore the tooth if possible so that the tooth can act as a space maintainer and prevent crowding.

So a dentist needs to see your daughter to examine her teeth perhaps with X-rays and see if the decayed teeth should be restored or removed.