Deciduous dentition caries and risk of loss of the young first permanent molar: a case report

Abstract

The dental caries risk assessment can provide the dental clinician with important information that leads to the correct approach to the pediatric patient, especially when performed at an early age. Tooth decay is one of the most common chronic diseases in infants. The contemporary approach promotes management based on biological and clinical evidence seeking to maintain health and preserving tooth structure, preventing the appearance of new lesions and preventing existing ones from progressing, emphasizing non-operative management in the initial stages and conservative operative ones in the more severe cases. All this in parallel with the control of risk factors. The objective of this work is to highlight the risk factors for caries that influenced early exposure to caries of the first permanent molar, compromising it to consider invasive interventions as endodontic treatments even in immature stages of its formation. This case report is about a female patient of seven years and one month of age, who attends the School of Dentistry of the University of El Salvador, with multiple carious lesions in the deciduous dentition and a report of pain in teeth 2-6 and 3 -6 with a presumptive diagnosis of reversible and irreversible pulpitis respectively. It is concluded that identifying risk factors for dental caries at an early age and educating child patients and their caregivers about oral health in the child's first dental consultations is essential to prevent the installation of caries in the deciduous dentition, as well as in the permanent one.