My DS has an infected nerve in his tooth (he's 8). It's on a tooth that got filled this past summer--his first cavity. The dentist took out the filling to see what the problem was, but the tooth was totally clean underneath. She drilled a little further in the tooth to see what was going on and, sure enough, there was infection under there.
I expected her to recommend a root canal or an extraction, but she said she would suggest just leaving it open like that to drain and then wait and see what happens, that this is generally the procedure for baby teeth, and that as long as the infection clears up then we should leave it like that until it falls out. It's a molar, which means it could be another 4 years until that happens (my ds didn't start losing his teeth until he was 7 1/2, so I expect him to lose teeth a little later than normal).
Has anyone else ever had a dentist recommend such a thing? I am not living in the U.S. currently and they do things a little different here (Eastern Europe) and I'm nervous.
I expected her to recommend a root canal or an extraction, but she said she would suggest just leaving it open like that to drain and then wait and see what happens, that this is generally the procedure for baby teeth, and that as long as the infection clears up then we should leave it like that until it falls out. It's a molar, which means it could be another 4 years until that happens (my ds didn't start losing his teeth until he was 7 1/2, so I expect him to lose teeth a little later than normal).
Has anyone else ever had a dentist recommend such a thing? I am not living in the U.S. currently and they do things a little different here (Eastern Europe) and I'm nervous.