If the tooth bleeds during a pulpotomy, that is a good sign and suggests the tooth is healthy.
Your child will come in for a consultation with Dr. Thompson to assess the condition of their tooth. She will take x-rays to get a closer look at the location of the infection/damage.
After administering local anesthesia to numb the mouth, a dental drill will be used to make an access hole, and the dental pulp in the crown will be scraped out.
The remaining pulp will be treated with sedative medication. This encourages healing and prevents tooth sensitivity.
After filling the inside of the tooth and sealing the access hole, we will place a stainless steel crown on top to protect the tooth until it’s ready to naturally fall out.
We know that dental emergencies rarely happen on your terms, or on a set schedule. That’s why we offer same-day care to help your child get the care they need right away. Immediate dental care from a qualified dentist will ensure that your child can get relief from their pain and discomfort, and also prevents further complications related to their oral health condition or dental injury. Call us now for a same-day appointment.
Many parents wonder what the point of a restorative treatment such as a pulpotomy is on a primary tooth when it will just fall out anyway. There are multiple reasons it is not a good idea to extract a tooth unnecessarily. For one, it makes chewing and speaking more difficult, and will leave a gap in your child’s smile.
However, the biggest reason is that your child’s baby teeth have a very important job to do - they hold space in the mouth, creating a path for the permanent tooth to follow as it erupts. When your child loses a tooth too soon, the surrounding teeth will shift and lean into this space, blocking the ability of the permanent tooth to erupt and leading to orthodontic issues.
Primary teeth with decay or damage to the dental pulp solely in the tooth’s crown are the best candidates for pulpotomies. Pulpotomies are not typically performed in adult teeth and cannot be performed in teeth when the root is infected.
During the procedure, if the pulp chamber is dry or filled with pus, the pulpotomy will need to be stopped as this suggests the tooth is no longer healthy enough and will need to be extracted.
A pulpotomy is different from a root canal because it only removes infected pulp from the crown of the tooth.
.png)
.png)
.png)
