If your child has lost one of their primary (baby) teeth, they may need a space maintainer from Dr. Sal or Dr. Yasi Colombo at The Little Royals: Dentistry for Kids. Space maintainers are made of plastic or metal, and are built to keep the surrounding teeth from moving around once a permanent tooth has been lost, similarly to a retainer.
Wondering what the benefits are of space maintainers for your child? Get all the details now from the team at The Little Royals.
The most important reason for space maintainers is that they help keep your child’s teeth in the right positions. When you lose a tooth, your surrounding teeth will naturally shift towards the now-empty socket. If this happens before your child’s permanent teeth have grown in, it can cause a lot of issues with your child’s oral development. Space maintainers keep the teeth in the proper position and keep them from shifting.
Your child’s baby teeth create the “pathways” that their permanent teeth will follow when they erupt. If they lose a tooth, the permanent tooth may not erupt properly as they grow and mature.
But a space maintainer helps preserve your child’s mouth, and encourages the proper eruption of permanent teeth by preventing teeth from shifting after tooth loss.
A space maintainer can save you thousands of dollars in orthodontic treatment fees. This is because, by encouraging the permanent teeth to grow into your child’s mouth properly, you can minimize potential orthodontic issues. If the gap where your child’s missing tooth used to be is not preserved, the permanent teeth could erupt improperly and become crooked, requiring braces and other orthodontic treatments.
By having a space maintainer placed immediately after your child loses a baby tooth prematurely, you’ll be able to keep their mouth healthy and avoid costly orthodontic treatment.
Your child’s space maintainer will not hurt at all. It may be a little bit uncomfortable for the first few days after it has been placed. This is because your child will have to get used to how it feels, and it may exert a little bit of pressure on the teeth as it settles into the proper position, similar to a retainer.
However, there is no pain and the space maintainer won’t hurt at all. Once your child gets used to it, they will likely forget that it’s even there!
We offer both fixed space maintainers, which are cemented to the adjacent teeth and do not need to be removed, as well as removable space maintainers, which can be popped in and out of the mouth, similar to a partial denture or retainer. If you’re not sure which one may be right for your child, we recommend consulting with Dr. Sal Colombo or Dr. Yasi Colombo.
Premature baby tooth loss can cause a variety of oral health issues. But with space maintainers from The Little Royals, you can keep your child’s mouth healthy, avoid orthodontic treatments, and encourage proper oral development. Contact us now at (561) 510-1450 for an appointment, or come to our office at 600 Heritage Drive, Suite 110, Jupiter, FL 33458.
