QUESTION:
Is placing veneers on the front upper teeth of a 3 year old child medically necessary due to decay caused by a delay in weaning the child from a bottle or would extracting the teeth, since they are going to fall out be a better solution?
ANSWER:
If your child has nursing bottle caries and they can be restored that is probably the best thing to do. Premature removal of baby teeth can be done, but it may create spacing problems for the adult teeth, it may actually delay eruption of the adult teeth and in a child whose speech is still developing it may also interfere with speech development. My recommendation is you take your child to see a pediatric Dentist. If you are close to Gainseville or Lake City I can recommend an orthodontist for you to see who can probably give you more information on your options and then refer you to a pediatric dentist if you need one. If you are not close to either of those cities I can find you someone closer.
Hope this helps,
Nick DeTure DMD
askadentist.com