One of the purposes of baby teeth, are to hold the space for the adult teeth. If a baby tooth is lost early, then the space it was holding for the adult tooth could close up. If you believe that your child may be a candidate for a space maintainer we recommend that you bring your child in for an evaluation.
If space is not maintained, the most likely result is crowding of the permanent teeth. When severe crowding occurs, permanent teeth may need to be extracted in order to make room to align all of the permanent teeth. Once space is lost, it may not be able to be regained without the extraction of permanent teeth. This is what makes space maintainers so important!
Call us at 858-756-6878 if you think your child may be needing a consultation for a space maintainer.