Tooth Extraction in Young Children – When Is It Necessary? – Family Dentist Schwyz

About the job

Tooth extraction in young children – when is it necessary?

09:30 in Schwyz, the phone rings, a concerned father is on the line asking me the following question: "Mrs Landolt, my 6-year-old son already has his 'permanent teeth' in the lower jaw, but the baby teeth are still there. Our dentist now recommends extracting several teeth soon. What do you recommend in your practice?"

A typical second opinion sought, which always touches me somewhat as a mother, because tooth extraction is not WITHOUT impact for a child – also mentally.

From a dental perspective, there are clear time intervals, which by the way differ between the lower and upper jaw, that must be observed before even considering tooth extraction. Therefore, we always recommend parents personally ask their dentist.

The explanation that the tooth change from 20 baby teeth to 32 permanent teeth in a child is not quite proportional to the size the head grows to can help parents understand that during this tooth change period, a smaller or larger temporary chaos can occur in the mouth. But this is not a problem, because nature knows what it is doing. It just often requires some patience.

When asked, we also always give the tip that the child may now really "play" with the baby tooth using their tongue and also encourage the little tooth that it may now leave. Letting go can also be practised and learned here. 😉

If time and patience do not bring the desired success, such a baby tooth will also be extracted in our practice. For anxious children, we consciously use the option of child hypnosis. Hypnosis – Family Dentist Schwyz (familienzahnarzt-schwyz.ch)

This topic concerning our little patients is very close to our hearts, as we know from many years of experience and especially through hypnosis work how dental anxiety can develop.

Our working philosophy is therefore to avoid what is possible and do what is necessary.