Space maintainer for pulled tooth in 6 yo....

[noiamnot]

Are they common practise? Dentist here in Ireland said he's done very few here (he's from UK originally). He's only 6 and it's a molar. ds1 is 10 and same tooth hasn't come loose in his mouth yet so I'm assuming ds2 has at least 4 years before the adult molar comes out.

I@m a little apprehensive about it as dentist hasn't done that many but he said it's like a bridge only they won't glue it down (as no bone or adult tooth to anchor to) but must band to tooth behind. Band is thick however and will make back tooth harder to keep clean and I'm assuming therefore more vulnerable to decay?

never heard about that. When ds2 had 5 teeth knocked out at 6 the dentist said nothing. And another dentist wanted to remove 5 molars from dd2 (4) because of decay but there was no intention of 'space fillers' to keep her mouth developing normally. So I made them cap them all instead.

so he drilled decay away and capped rest?

did ds2's adult teeth come in properly?

yes they did for ds2- were all front teeth though and a canine. They came through straight as well which was another worry as braces cost a fortune.
With dd2 they drilled the decay and capped the molars under a GA because I didn't want her to lose her teeth at 4. The first dentist we saw wanted to whip them all out so I got a refferal to the dental hospital.

ah. I pushed and pushed for that route but he had an abscess as well. He showed me xray and said, it's gone, needs to come out.

When he took the tooth out and I saw it it was really bad.

he was very good with ds2 though.

I wonder if it makes a difference this being a molar?