Restorative Dentistry
At Cottage Grove Pediatric Dentistry

Cavities are no joke. In baby teeth they can cause pain that: distracts your child from paying attention in school, causes school absences, disruptions in the whole household at meal and bed time, make parents need to take time off of work for emergency treatments, damage the developing permanent teeth, and cause orthodontic issues if a tooth is lost early. Dental fillings offer a fast, simple solution that is also the easiest treatment for your child to do when fixing cavities. When we catch cavities while they're small, we can use a laser for treatment, which takes away the need for an injection to numb their teeth. By addressing your child's cavities, we ensure your child's teeth stay healthy and pain-free for years to come. 

Is your child experiencing a toothache that keeps on coming back? It might be a sign of an infection that is getting closer to the nerve of the tooth. The pulpotomy procedure is used when restoring a tooth with a large cavity that ensures that the nerve of the tooth is still healthy. Think of a pulpotomy as a "baby root canal" that stops the infection in its tracks. By doing this treatment, we make sure your tooth is still healthy to keep for the future and prevents infection concerns for the developing permanent tooth. 

When it comes to restoring your child's smile, we always explore alternative treatments before considering tooth extractions. Our primary focus is to preserve and restore damaged teeth through various treatments. However, in cases where there is not enough tooth left to restore, tooth extractions become the best option to get your child into the healthiest oral environment. Extractions ensure that we remove the source of infection out of the mouth to allow your other teeth in the mouth and developing teeth to develop without issues. Rest assured, we prioritize your child's comfort and can offer sedation options to make the extraction process quick and pain-free. 

For teeth with large cavities that is too big for a filling, we place pediatric dental crowns. Generally, the cost of a pediatric crown and a filling are very similar and the crown will protect the tooth for the rest of it's time in the mouth. However, with crowns we generally do need to numb their teeth, so it is a little bit more more difficult of a procedure for children. The amount of time it takes to place a crown and cooperation required from your child can differ depending on which type of crown we place. For most patients, on their back chewing teeth we recommend stainless steel crowns to restore function and protect these teeth and on their front teeth we try to stick to fillings or white crowns. For patients who fit the right criteria and whose parents are interested, we also offer white crowns for the back teeth. These white crowns are specifically designed to restore teeth to their former function and appearance, but need to be placed in an ideal environment and take longer to place. 

Are you looking for a minimally invasive approach to your child's dental treatment? Look no further than laser dentistry! This cutting-edge method employs a precise laser to remove the cavity from your child's tooth and also numb the tooth in the process. With lasers, we can take away the need to use injections for fillings. Laser therapy ensures your child's experience is comfortable, precise, and comes with a shorter recovery time. With lasers, we remove the need for your child to be numb for hours and help prevent them from hurting themselves by biting their lips and cheeks as the numbing from the injection wears off.

As your child grows, their baby teeth are designed to fall out to make room for their adult counterparts. But when they fall out too early, it can cause orthodontic complications that will need to be treated later on. We want your child to thrive, which is why we provide space maintainers for when a tooth is lost early. This solution helps prevent your child's teeth from shifting and causing misalignment issues as they grow up and gives their permanent teeth the needed space in the mouth to properly erupt.