“It's Only a Milk Tooth!” — Why Treat a Tooth That Will Eventually Fall?

One of the most common questions parents ask is: “Doctor, it's only a milk tooth. Won't it fall anyway?”

Yes, milk teeth eventually fall—but every milk tooth has its own natural time to go.

When decay reaches the nerve of a primary tooth, a child may develop pain, sensitivity, difficulty eating, swelling or infection. Sometimes children don't complain clearly even when a tooth is badly affected.

If the tooth is restorable and still needs to remain in the mouth for a significant period, a pulpectomy may be recommended. This involves removing infected or damaged tissue from inside the tooth, disinfecting the canals and restoring the tooth so it can continue functioning.

Why save a milk tooth? Primary teeth help children chew, speak and smile, and they also help maintain space for the developing permanent teeth.

Leaving an infected tooth untreated simply because it will eventually fall isn't always the safest option. At the same time, not every damaged milk tooth requires a pulpectomy. If the tooth is close to its natural shedding time, cannot be predictably restored, or has certain other problems, extraction may be more appropriate.

The goal is therefore not to “save every milk tooth.”

The goal is to choose the treatment that is most appropriate for that particular tooth, at that particular stage of your child's development.