Tooth 55 can be treated. Sometimes that is not enough to keep it.
The child is 8. Tooth 55 had already been treated for pulpitis. The canals were prepared, but the crown of the tooth was still badly broken down.
Two jobs have to be kept separate: treating the tooth, and restoring it after treatment.
Canal treatment removes the infection and can keep the tooth, but it does not put back the lost crown or the strength of the remaining tooth.
If little tooth is left after treatment, a large filling may not be enough. The restoration then has to close the defect and protect the tooth from further breakdown.
In this case a biopolymer crown was chosen for tooth 55.
The crown made it possible to:
• restore the anatomical shape of the tooth
• protect the remaining tooth from chewing load
• restore chewing
• keep the primary molar until it is shed
At 8, tooth 55 still has an important job. Primary molars take part in chewing and help hold space for the permanent teeth.
So restoring a primary tooth after pulp treatment does not end when the canals are finished.
If the crown of the tooth is badly broken down, the dentist still has to decide how to protect what is left, and how to keep the tooth until it is shed.
A biopolymer crown was chosen for that restoration.
