Extractions for 4 year old

[SAmama]

DD has bad teeth in general and many cavities, but broke two of them recently. We couldn't get to a dentist (live in rural Asia) and woke up one morning with her face swollen from an infection in those teeth. We put her on Amoxicillin and the swelling went down. Now we are back home (South Africa) and saw a dentist who took x-rays and said that it looks as if the teeth died from the infection and he wants them extracted. I would definitely not do root canals, but he didn't feel comfortable with them for her anyway. Apparently the infection is still there and we need to put her on antibiotics again before the extraction.
I have read some about extractions preventing the jaw from "spreading out" and then there not being space for her new teeth. These are the two teeth next to her front tooth on the left (canine and the one between the canine and front tooth).
Does anyone have any suggestions or similar experiences. Should we just go ahead and pull them before they cause other problems?

[Vancouver Mommy]

Sorry you're dealing with this. Dental stuff is never fun. I had molars extracted as a young child and the dentist put in spacer bars between the teeth to hold the place for the adult teeth. This was nearly 40 years ago, so I'm not sure if it's still done, but I had no problems. In fact I had several molars pulled due to an unusually small jaw and I have no memory of it being a traumatic experience at all. Hope all goes well for your dd.

[Peony]

DD1 was almost 4 when we had two of her teeth pulled after a mouth injury, the teeth were badly damaged. They were the exact same teeth that they are wanting to extract in your DD. We did nothing with the space that was left, she is 7.5 years now and one of those adult teeth came in earlier this year and the other one is just breaking though. I consulted several dentists about what to do with the space, the answer was always just to leave it alone because it was the front teeth and she would be getting adult teeth in sooner rather then later. I will warn you that DD1's speech did change slightly with the absence of teeth there, and when her adult teeth did come in, they were difficult and painful for her compared to the other spaces where she had recently lost a tooth and then got a new one in. I am guessing that the gums were harder in those spaces because she had been without teeth for a few years.

We are looking at having to extract one of her molars due to an infection after a bad filling, we go in next week to try a root canal first. We have been told that if an extraction does occur then she will need a spacer due to that tooth being a molar. They base if spacers are needed or not depending on which tooth it is and the location in the mouth. Good luck. DD1 has poor teeth as well and it is always something with her so I know how it feels!

[SAmama]

Thanks ladies. I also heard that permanent teeth come in harder if some were pulled, but I guess we will have to deal with that when it happens. Sigh. She wasn't exactly an easy teether the first time around.
We are less than a week away from these extractions and I am already nervous. How did your dd do Peony? Was it really painful afterwards? How long before she was "back to normal"?
Thanks for letting me know about speech changing. That is good to keep in mind.
And yes, dental issues are horrible in general and truely miserable when it is your little one's teeth.

[Peony]

She did really well considering. Her mouth obviously hurt, I sent my mom out to get DVDs and popsicles, and we just hung out. She was playing at a park the next day. Food was interesting for the first week, she mostly ate soft, mushy things but then started eating almost anything but hard, crunchy things which she was eating by the next week. Kids are amazing in how fast they heal.