Sometimes a child’s tooth may become too damaged or infected to be restored by a traditional dental filling or dental crown. When this happens, our dentists may recommend a pulpotomy in Murphy and Wylie, Texas, also known as a “baby root canal”.
As an endodontic treatment, pulpotomies are specifically used to treat primary teeth in children. If the dental pulp of the tooth, the layer surrounding the tooth root, becomes infected or inflamed, your child may experience extreme discomfort, toothaches and sensitivity. Should this problem remain unaddressed, the tooth may cause other infections in the mouth and require removal.
Our dentists use this treatment to remove infected tissue from the pulp chamber of the tooth, while leaving the root itself intact. This allows the tooth time to heal and may only require a small portion of the root pulp to be removed if the majority of the tissue is healthy. After sterilizing the area and removing the damaged tissue, our dentists will place a stainless-steel crown over the tooth, sealing it against further infection.
Additionally, this treatment is often only used for pediatric dentistry and is very rarely recommended for permanent teeth.
If you think that your child may need a pulpotomy, we invite you to call Citrus Smiles at 972-472-8862 today to schedule a consultation with us.