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Quick Reference
Should a Baby (Primary) Tooth Be Extracted?
Normally, baby teeth come out on their own without any special attention.
These permanent teeth are right below the gums, growing directly beneath the baby teeth. As the permanent teeth grow in, the roots of the baby teeth dissolve, and the tooth loosens and falls out.
However, sometimes permanent teeth don't come in directly under the baby teeth, so the roots of the baby teeth stay strong, instead of dissolving away as they should. When this happens, permanent and baby teeth exist side by side in a child's mouth. In this situation, the baby teeth need to be removed.
Sometimes, when the permanent teeth are a little out of alignment, we see something like this.
In other situations, children can't bring themselves to wiggle the loose baby tooth; they just need a little help from their dentist!
If a baby tooth is decayed, and the permanent tooth isn't due to come in for a while, it's usually best to restore the damaged tooth. But if an x-ray shows that a permanent tooth is ready to come in, then the better option would be to extract the decayed baby tooth.
Sometimes a baby tooth is so damaged that it has to be removed, even though the permanent tooth isn't ready to come in. Space maintainers are then used to hold the other teeth in place until the permanent tooth comes in and fills the space.