Anonymous wrote:Our ped dentist said not to treat a cavity on a baby tooth. It got so bad that the decay spread to her adult tooth - so it emerged with a small cavity. I would only leave a cavity on a baby tooth that was basically almost ready to fall out, or very shallow and small (as the dentist said above).

I also would suggest going over to the pediatric dentist recommendations on the health site and checking out recent reviews of pediatric dentists. What seems great and "conservative" might well be negligence.

Good luck, OP.

Did the tooth develop an abscess? I was told that it wasn't possible for a cavity to spread to an adult tooth from a baby tooth. Just curious, was it a molar?

Our ped dentist said not to treat a cavity on a baby tooth. It got so bad that the decay spread to her adult tooth - so it emerged with a small cavity. I would only leave a cavity on a baby tooth that was basically almost ready to fall out, or very shallow and small (as the dentist said above).

I also would suggest going over to the pediatric dentist recommendations on the health site and checking out recent reviews of pediatric dentists. What seems great and "conservative" might well be negligence.

Good luck, OP.

OP I would contact a pediatric dentist. My DD had a small cavity in a molar at age 5. By age 7 it grew. We opted to have it removed. The dentist used nitrous. She didn’t feel a thing. She “liked” her trip to the dentist. The removed tooth was BAD. Much worse than it seemed. They were afraid it would infect the new molar. The new molar came in 5 years later. Perfect and no problems since. Now 19 yo.

My DD is 10.75 and has a cavity in her lower back primary molar. Would you fill it? It probably won't be there much longer than 2 more years, but it's an infection so not much choice there, I guess!

Anonymous wrote:Just curious... anyone filled a baby tooth for a 10 year old? It’s a primary top molar.

We've been watching one on my 12 yo for a couple years. Our dentist says it's ok because the tooth will fall out soon.

Just curious... anyone filled a baby tooth for a 10 year old? It’s a primary top molar.

We are filling a cavity at age 9. The dentist said that the tooth will be there until age 12-13. It's always hard to know what's best.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We (at the recommendation of our awesome dentist) do not treat painless cavities on any baby teeth. If pain, we treat.

Aren't you in root canal territory by the time you get pain?

I think so.

Not necessarily. I think they can also pull a baby tooth at that point.

Would you pull a baby tooth at 9? I feel like that tooth is supposed to stay there until age 12 or so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We (at the recommendation of our awesome dentist) do not treat painless cavities on any baby teeth. If pain, we treat.

Aren't you in root canal territory by the time you get pain?

I think so.

Not necessarily. I think they can also pull a baby tooth at that point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We (at the recommendation of our awesome dentist) do not treat painless cavities on any baby teeth. If pain, we treat.

Aren't you in root canal territory by the time you get pain?

I think so.

Anonymous wrote:Will you dentist treat with silver nitrate? Non-invasive and painless.

Would silver nitrate hold up for a few years? My DD has a cavity only visible on xrays and is 9. It’s for a back molar that shouldn’t fall out until age 12 or so.

Anonymous wrote:We (at the recommendation of our awesome dentist) do not treat painless cavities on any baby teeth. If pain, we treat.

Aren't you in root canal territory by the time you get pain?

Will you dentist treat with silver nitrate? Non-invasive and painless.

We filled the back molars for our seven-year-old based on ped dentist advice (not sure how sound!) that because DC's teeth are severely overcrowded (sorry for the lousy genes, kid...) She was concerned that the cavities between the back molars had created soft spots that would potentially give way as the adult teeth pushed against them. She noted that they would just have watched them without the overcrowding factor. We didn't seek a second opinion since DC was okay with that option and insurance covered it, but this thread is interesting--if it pops up again I will ask about some of these other options.

We (at the recommendation of our awesome dentist) do not treat painless cavities on any baby teeth. If pain, we treat.