At regular cleaning, dentist discovered small abscess on my son's 1st molar. He has a previous filling in this tooth. The dentist called in antibiotic and plans to extract in 7-10 days followed by a space filler to prevent movement. Is extraction necessary? It sometimes seems like every time we go they want to do a procedure while the kids have no pain and few cavities. I've heard complaints from other parents that this company (has multiple offices almost like retail dentistry) does unnecessary procedures. I love the dentist we see but this is my baby and he doesn't react well to any intrusion on his person and will not handle this well even fillings are rough. Is it necessary to remove a tooth like this instead of treating the abscess and seeing if it returns?
5 year old with Abcess on 1st molar
- Thread starter Cortney
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MattKW
Verified Dentist
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- Mar 18, 2018
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An abscessed baby tooth might settle a bit with antibiotics as an emergency measure, but the abscess will return unless the tooth is extracted. If you do nothing, then at some stage your child may develop a lot of pain, and that's not going to be a nice day for your child, for you, or the dentist. If you have an Xray, post it up here for us to see. Baby teeth are smaller than adult teeth, so it doesn't take long for the decay to get to the nerve. As soon as children can co-operate, I will get Xrays to find any small areas of decay so they can be handled early (usually ~ 4 years old). If you're not sure about the practice, take any Xrays to another dentist or paediatric dentist for a 2nd opinion.