Dental Restorations For Kids In Lafayette, CO

Mini Miners repairs decayed and damaged baby and permanent teeth with tooth-colored fillings, crowns, pulp therapy and space maintainers. We use only white, mercury-free filling material, and for some back teeth we can place a crown with no drilling and no injection.

Our office is at 61 Erie Pkwy in Erie, a short drive from Lafayette, and we treat children from Lafayette every week. Start with our pediatric dentist in Lafayette page if you are new to the practice.

What We Place

White composite fillings

We use white composite fillings exclusively. No silver amalgam, ever. Composite needs less healthy tooth removed than amalgam does, bonds directly to what is left, and holds its shape through hot and cold food instead of expanding and contracting. Most children also report less sensitivity afterward.

Hall crowns, with no drilling and no numbing

A Hall crown is a stainless steel crown seated over a decayed back baby tooth without drilling out the cavity and without an injection. The crown seals the decay off from the bacteria that feed it. For a young or anxious child facing a multi-surface cavity, it removes the two parts of the appointment children dread most.

It is not right for every tooth. We will tell you when it is not.

White crowns for front and back teeth

When a tooth needs full coverage and appearance matters, we place tooth-colored crowns on front and back teeth. Read the research section below before you assume white is the stronger choice. It is the better-looking one, which is a different claim.

Pulp therapy, the baby root canal

When decay reaches the nerve, no filling fixes it. Pulp therapy removes the infected tissue, seals what remains, and finishes with a crown, because a treated tooth is too weak to hold a filling.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry sets the goal of pulp therapy as maintaining the integrity and health of the tooth and its supporting tissues, and names the conditions under which taking the tooth out is the better call: an infection treatment cannot arrest, bone support that cannot be regained, or too little tooth structure left to restore. We use the same test, which is why we will not promise to save every tooth.

Space maintainers

If a baby tooth comes out early, a space maintainer holds the gap so the permanent tooth underneath has room to erupt. Whether your child needs one depends on which tooth, their age, and how close the permanent tooth is to arriving. A molar lost at 4 almost always needs one. The same tooth lost at 10 usually does not.

How We Choose Between Them

Four things decide it, and none of them is what the tooth looks like.

How many surfaces are involved. One surface is usually a filling. Two or more on a back baby tooth is usually a crown.
How much sound tooth is left. Composite has to bond to something. When there is little left to bond to, a filling is being asked to do a job it was not built for.
How long the tooth has to last. A lower second molar in a 4-year-old has 8 or 9 years left. The same tooth in a 10-year-old has months.
Whether the nerve is involved. That moves it out of filling and crown territory entirely.

Dr. Grover examines the tooth, reviews the X-ray, and explains the plan to you and to your child before anything starts.

White or Silver on a Back Molar: What the Research Says

What is settled

A 2022 systematic review in the Japanese Dental Science Review pooled the Hall Technique trials. Hall crowns were about 80% more likely to succeed than direct fillings on primary molars (risk ratio 1.80, 95% CI 1.37 to 2.36), and showed no statistical difference from conventional drilled and prepped metal crowns (RR 1.02, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.15). Failure was roughly 6 times less likely than the comparison restorations. A 2025 meta-analysis in Evidence-Based Dentistry pooled 25 studies and put Hall crown success at 98% at 12 months across the randomized trials, at moderate to low certainty.

What is not settled

Zirconia. A 2022 meta-analysis of 36 studies found no significant retention difference against comparison crowns at 12 months. A 2025 retrospective study of 138 primary molars in Children found the opposite direction on two measures: more radicular pathology under zirconia than stainless steel (18% against 9%) and more zirconia crowns coming loose (16% against 3%), with success at 87% in both groups. One retrospective study is not a verdict. It is enough that "white lasts just as long" is a marketing line rather than a summary of the evidence.

What parents choose once they hear it

A 2026 study of 172 parent and child pairs found 60.5% of parents preferred zirconia before anyone explained the tradeoffs. After hearing the advantages and the disadvantages, zirconia preference fell to 30.2%, and 39.5% chose stainless steel. Asked separately, children leaned stainless steel.

We place both. We will show you each option on a real molar first.

Two Things Most Pages Leave Out

The bite will feel high after a Hall crown

For roughly 2 to 4 weeks, your child's bite feels off on that side. That is expected. A 2010 study measured the bite propped open just under 2 mm right after placement and back past its starting point by day 30. A 2020 study found it back to baseline by weeks 3 and 4, with no jaw joint symptoms in any child. Both studies are small and short, so we are not going to tell you it is proven harmless forever. If the bite still feels high after a month, we want to see the tooth.

We will not replace an existing silver filling that is doing its job

In a September 2020 safety communication, the FDA recommended that children, especially those under 6, avoid getting dental amalgam whenever possible and appropriate. In the same communication it said it is not recommending anyone remove or replace existing amalgam fillings in good condition, because removal briefly raises mercury vapor exposure and takes healthy tooth structure with it. That is why we place only white fillings and still will not sell you a replacement you do not need.

What the Appointment Is Like

Your child picks a movie on the ceiling-mounted TV before we start. Our team uses a "no scary words" policy, so nobody hears the words that make a 5-year-old freeze. Depending on the treatment, your child may have laughing gas before we numb the area, and we do not begin until they are comfortable. Every child visits the prize tower afterward.

If your child has already had a hard dental experience, tell us when you book rather than in the chair.

Who Treats Your Child

Dr. Alison Grover, DDS is a Board-Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. She earned her DDS and completed a general practice residency at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, then completed a two-year pediatric residency and holds a pediatric dental certificate from UCLA. Her undergraduate degree is from Wellesley College.

Any licensed dentist may treat children. A board-certified pediatric specialist finished additional residency years devoted to treating children, including infants, children with special health care needs, and sedation, and then passed the written and oral examinations of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry.

Questions Parents Ask

Do cavities in baby teeth really need treating?

Often yes, and the reason is the space rather than the tooth. A molar lost early lets neighboring teeth drift, and the permanent tooth arrives with nowhere to go. Where the decay started and how to stop the next one is covered on our early childhood tooth decay page.

Will my child end up with a silver tooth?

Only if a back molar needs full coverage and you choose stainless steel. We place tooth-colored crowns on front and back teeth as well, and we will show you both before you decide.

How long does a restoration appointment take?

Most run 30 to 60 minutes. Single-surface fillings are shorter. Crowns and pulp therapy take longer, and we book extra time so nobody is rushed.

What if the tooth cannot be saved?

Then we take it out and plan for the space, usually with a maintainer. What that visit involves is on our pediatric dental extractions page.

My child has white or chalky patches, not a hole. Is that a cavity?

Not yet, and that is the point of catching it early. See white spots on teeth.

A tooth just got knocked out or broken. What now?

Call us. Existing patients call (303) 500-3202 and press 2 for the on-call pediatric dentist. See emergency dental care for kids for what to do in the first hour.

Do you take my insurance?

We work with a range of insurance providers and offer a membership plan for families without dental coverage. Call and we will tell you what applies to your plan before you book.