The pulp is the portion of the tooth that has blood vessels and nerves. When a cavity gets very deep and reaches the pulp, it causes a spontaneous toothache. To help stop the tooth from hurting, the inflamed portion of the pulp is removed and a medicament is placed.
This procedure may be needed to help save the baby tooth until the permanent tooth is ready to erupt.
Since a tooth, which has undergone a pulpotomy, is brittle and may be prone to fracture, placement of a crown is recommended to prevent breakdown of the treated tooth.
On rare occasions where the baby tooth is expected to survive less than 2 years, we do place tooth colored fillings in lieu of crowns, provided, there is sufficient tooth structure remaining to support the filling.