Cavaties/sealants/cement Mouth Piece

Yes, it is necessary to cavities fixed on baby teeth. Those teeth are meant to last until your son is about 10-11 yrs old. If you leave a cavity untreated for 7 years, it will abcess and cause pain. Then it will have to be pulled, and the space it was holding for the permanent tooth will be lost, and the permanent teeth will be really crooked.

If the cavity is caught early enough, instead of a traditonal filling, the dentist may do a resin restoration, which is basically like a sealant. Sealants are usually done on the permanent molars, which come in around age six. usually, a restoration like a sealant is cheaper than an amalgam filling.

If the jaw is not aligned now, there is an appliance that can be made to expand the top jaw (if that's the problem)and avoid full braces later. It's usually done around 7 yrs of age, while the bone is still growing, and it could be "guided" to grow the correct way. If it's done right and on time, it could save you thousands of dollars in braces later.

If you have any other questions like this, feel free to email me with any and all of them. I work at the Infant Welfare Society dental clinic and we see everything.

By the way, February is Children's Dental Health Month, so you're very timely!

As the other mothers have said, it is necessary to "fill" baby teeth when they contain cavities.
I would not rush into any allignment work without getting a 2nd and maybe a 3rd opinion. Three years old seems awfully young to me. If they are talking about you son's jaw bone, though, that would be a different issue.
My son has had plenty of dental issues so far. Please let me know if you need a recommendation for another opinion.
Good luck.

Yes, it is necessary to have baby teeth filled, if not it could damage the other teeth and even the permanent teeth below.

Usually they put sealants on the permanent molars when they come in (6yr molars). That's what my daughter's dentist did. I don't know if they usually put sealants on baby teeth but if your son already has a cavity at 3 then he maybe more prone to get them, so they might want to seal baby teeth too. I think the sealants do last for a long time but they can eventually chip off. The sealant material is the same thing that is used to attach braces to teeth. That needs to be sealed so that decay doesn't start under the braces.

Most ortho's will not start trying to move teeth until all permanent teeth are in, so you'll just have to wait and see. Basically, if the alignment affects the bite, then braces are more for a medical reason as opposed to a cosmetic one. If it comes to that, find one that will not pull teeth. Many want to take the easy way out to make room for teeth but believe me there are ways to do it with out pulling teeth.

My son is 5 and has had 5 fillings and still has 2 more cavities and appointments with the dentist. It is very important to take care of the baby teeth. Cavities produce bacteria and that bacteria will stay in his mouth and spread to his "good teeth" if not fixed, and possibly to his permanent teeth. I was a receptionist @ a dental office and I've seen a lot of children who's parents brought them in as an emergency because their tooth had gotten infected from not being taken care of when it should have been.

My son has two cavities in his back molars, he has since he was three, he is four now...despite brushing. Our dentist told us we would wait as long as possible to fil them, hopefully five or six. I guess the problem is that if the cavities get to big, they can affect the way his adult teeth some in, and since those molars wouldn't fall out until he was 10 or 12 they would have to be filled before then. Also, I wouildn't worry that he would be prone to cavities, my husband had cavities in the majority of his baby teeth and to this very day has none in his adult teeth, he just turned thirty. As far as alignment goes get a second opinion. The first time the dentist saw my son he was worried about his alignment, and blah. blah, blah, then the second time he saw him he said he had great alignment...

having cavities filled for baby teeth is a good thing because if they aren't taken care of, then the decay can spread to the permanent teeth also.

Sealants do work, however, it's more beneficial to have them done on the permanent teeth and they can only be done on 1st & 2nd molars. If you have dental insurance, most insurances will not cover sealants on baby teeth, only on permanent teeth. I've worked in the dental field for years now and I've only seen a dentist actually want to do sealants on baby teeth a couple of times. So, I would definitely question that if you've been told that they want to do sealants on your 3yr old :)

As far as the jaw problem, it can cause problems later, but I would definitely get a second opinion before having anything done seeing that he is still so young. Most of the time it's nothing to really worry about until they're older unless it's really serious.

Good Luck with everything ;)