Is it common to extract milk teeth for the eruption of permanent teeth?

Question

Hi doctor,

My son is eight years old and still have all his baby teeth. Now there is one permanent tooth erupting behind one of his baby teeth. I took him to a dentist and he suggested extracting all the eight teeth (four up and four down) to give space for the permanent teeth to erupt. It would be done at once under general anesthesia. I have never heard of such procedure and I think it would be too extreme for an eight-year boy. Is this a common procedure to extract teeth for the eruption of permanent teeth?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have gone through your query and I do not find it suitable to extract all his teeth as the recommended time period for the eruption of permanent teeth is between six to twelve years. It is better to wait and you can do one thing apply a gentle force to the milk teeth to make them mobile so, they can be extracted naturally not under anesthesia or all at once. Give a better diet and nourished food for your son, undernutrition is thought to be one cause for a delayed eruption so keep a notice on his diet. Give him adequate minerals and salts in his diet. You do not need to worry, just wait for some more time and in case, the problem persists then, they need to be extracted by a method called serial extraction, not all at once. Nourish your child well with adequate minerals. Follow up after three months.