Pediatric Dental Extractions In Louisville, CO

Pediatric dental extractions in Louisville, CO start by sorting the tooth into 1 of 2 groups: sick or stuck. A sick tooth has decay, infection or damage that a filling or crown can't repair. A stuck tooth is a baby tooth, or an extra tooth, blocking the adult tooth behind it. The group decides how fast the extraction happens and whether the gap needs a space maintainer.

Mini Miners Pediatric Dentistry sees Louisville families at our office in Erie Commons. Dr. Alison Grover is a board-certified pediatric dentist. If your search kept turning up Louisville, Kentucky, this page is for the one in Boulder County.

Sick Tooth or Stuck Tooth: The Check Behind Every Extraction

An X-ray shows which group a tooth belongs to, and the 2 groups behave differently.

A sick tooth needs action within days once swelling or fever shows up. When a back baby tooth comes out years before the adult tooth is ready, the gap often needs a space maintainer to hold the room open.

A stuck tooth moves on a slower clock of weeks to months, and some stuck teeth fix themselves. The adult tooth is already on its way, so the gap is less likely to need a space maintainer.

Sick Teeth: When a Repair Won't Hold

A sick tooth comes out when decay has gone past what a filling or crown can repair. Before that point, a crown can sometimes save it. Mini Miners places Hall crowns and white crowns. A Hall crown is a stainless steel crown placed over the tooth with no drilling and no numbing injection. A white crown is a tooth-colored ceramic or zirconia cap for front or back teeth.

Infection changes the timeline. Children often have an infection without complaining of pain, so a baby molar can look quiet until the gum swells. An infected baby tooth can damage the adult tooth developing underneath it, which is why it doesn't wait for a convenient week. Current patients can reach the on-call pediatric dentist after hours by calling (303) 500-3202 and selecting option 2.

Trauma is the third reason: a tooth broken in a fall that can't be saved.

When a back baby tooth comes out years early

The gap starts closing within months. A 48-month study of 100 extracted baby second molars measured an average of 2.12 mm of lost space at 6 months and 4.02 mm at 12 months with nothing holding the gap open (General Dentistry, 2015). Most of the loss came in the first year. The authors concluded that a space maintainer placed a year or more after the extraction has minimal benefit.

Lower baby molars lose more room than upper ones. A 2026 meta-analysis of 7 studies in BMC Oral Health found the gap after a lower first molar shrank 1.78 mm in 8 to 9 months, against 0.52 mm in 9 to 12 months for an upper one.

So the space maintainer conversation happens at the extraction visit, before you leave. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry weighs 10 factors, and 2 of them show on the X-ray: which tooth was lost, and how far the adult tooth underneath is from coming in.

Stuck Teeth: When a Baby Tooth Is in the Way

Stuck teeth follow published rules, and some of those rules say wait. These figures come from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry's guidance on the developing dentition, revised in 2024.

A baby molar that sinks below its neighbors is called ankylosed, and its reported rate in baby teeth is 7% to 14%. If an adult tooth sits underneath, the guidance is to keep the baby molar until it blocks that tooth or the neighboring teeth start to tip. If no adult tooth sits underneath, the baby molar comes out, or its crown is removed and the root left in place, before a large height gap develops.
An extra front tooth, called a mesiodens, comes in on its own only 25% of the time. Removing one that has come in lets the normal incisor beside it erupt in 75% of cases. For one still under the gum, the guidance points to removal around age 6 to 7. Extra teeth turn up in 0.3% to 0.8% of children with only baby teeth, and in 0.52% to 2% once adult teeth start arriving.
An upper adult canine stuck in the bone affects 1% to 3% of people. Removing the baby canine corrected it in 67% to 69% of cases, against 39% to 42% without the extraction. Found at age 11 to 16, 75% still come in after the baby canine is removed, as long as the adult canine isn't lying horizontally.
A 6-year molar that wedges under the back baby molar frees itself by age 9 in 71% of cases.

Two of those 4 are reasons to wait.

Shark teeth are the easiest stuck tooth to spot: an adult front tooth coming in behind a baby tooth that hasn't let go. They're common between ages 5 and 7. Our tooth eruption page gives the rule. Watch it for 2 months. In most cases the baby tooth loosens and comes out on its own. If it's still solid after 2 months, or your child can't chew on that side, it's usually a 1-visit extraction.

Some stuck-tooth extractions are part of an orthodontic plan, such as making room for crowded permanent teeth, and get scheduled with that plan.

What the Visit Looks Like From Your Chair

Most simple extractions take only minutes once the area is numb. The full appointment typically lasts 30 to 45 minutes. Here is the order, from the seat next to your child.

X-rays are taken in the chair on a camera-style machine, so your child keeps watching the movie they picked from more than 70 on the ceiling-mounted TV.
Every treatment room has nitrous oxide, so a nervous child can relax without changing rooms.
Then comes the numbing injection. It's the step to prepare your child for, and after it they should feel pressure rather than pain.
The tooth comes out with small instruments sized for a child's mouth, and gauze goes in.
Your child picks a reward on the way out, and you leave with aftercare instructions.

Parents are always welcome in our treatment rooms. For general anesthesia, you wait during treatment and join your child in the recovery area before they wake up.

Plan for your own nerves too. If the injection will be hard to watch, sit by your child's head and hold a hand. Children read the adult in the room.

Numbing, nitrous or sedation

Most extractions start with local anesthetic, with nitrous oxide when a child needs help relaxing. Sedation is for more complex cases and children with high anxiety, and Mini Miners offers 3 levels.

Mild: nitrous oxide, an odorless gas mixed with oxygen. Your child stays awake and able to respond, and it wears off quickly.
Moderate: oral conscious sedation, a liquid combination of Versed and hydroxyzine. Children get drowsy, usually don't remember the visit, and need an adult watching them for the rest of the day.
Deep: general anesthesia, given in our office through gas and an IV by a board-certified anesthesiologist from Mile High Anesthesia or Rocky Mountain Dental Anesthesia.

Children with sensory or developmental needs can start with a happy visit, where the goal might be nothing more than walking the space. A child who can't lie flat doesn't have to, and our special needs page covers the rest of the accommodations. Before any sedation appointment, the office sends instructions, including fasting guidelines when they apply. Our sedation options page walks through each level.

After the Extraction, Hour by Hour

For the first 4 hours, watch the numb lip more than the socket. The mouth stays numb for about 2 to 4 hours. A child who can't feel a lip, cheek or tongue can chew it without noticing.

In a study of 320 children numbed for lower-tooth treatment, 16% of 4- to 7-year-olds injured their own lip, cheek or tongue afterward. The rate was 18% under age 4, 13% at 8 to 11, and 7% at 12 and older (College and colleagues, Pediatric Dentistry, 2000). That's about 1 in 6 kids in the 4-to-7 range.

Aftercare for pediatric dental extractions in Louisville, CO follows the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry's postoperative instructions for extractions.

Until the numbness wears off, keep fingers and teeth off the lip, and hold firm pressure on the gauze until the oozing stops.

Tonight, stick to cold, soft food like applesauce, yogurt, pudding or ice cream. No straws, and no hard rinsing or spitting. For soreness, give children's acetaminophen or ibuprofen dosed for your child's weight. Never give aspirin. Skip sports and hard play today, so soccer practice waits a day.

For the first 24 hours, ice the cheek 10 minutes on and 10 minutes off if it swells.

Tomorrow, start warm salt-water rinses. Food can move back toward normal as your child tolerates it. Hold off on nuts and popcorn, which lodge in the socket.

Through 48 hours, a slight fever up to 100.5°F can happen.

Call (303) 500-3202 if you see any of these

Bleeding that keeps going past 2 hours of gauze pressure
A fever above 100.5°F, or one that won't come down
Swelling that starts after the 48-hour mark
Pain that medicine doesn't control
Stitches, if your child had any, coming loose in the first 48 hours
Throbbing pain that starts days later, a possible sign of dry socket

After hours, current patients select option 2 to reach the on-call pediatric dentist. For a fall, a knocked-out tooth or swelling that appeared today, our emergency dental page for Louisville kids covers what to do first.

About Dr. Alison Grover

Dr. Alison Grover is a Board-Certified Diplomate Pediatric Dentist, which means she passed the oral and written exam given by the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. She earned her DDS and a general practice residency certificate at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, then completed a 2-year pediatric residency and a Pediatric Dental Certificate at UCLA. She holds a degree from Wellesley College. She grew up in Boulder, she's a parent, and in 2017 she and her husband designed and built Mini Miners from the ground up.

The Drive From Louisville

Our only office is at 61 Erie Pkwy, Unit 101, Erie, CO 80516, in the Erie Commons shopping area at the corner of Briggs Street and Erie Parkway, between I-25 and 287. Parking is at the door, which matters when you're carrying a child out after an extraction.

Most pediatric dental extractions in Louisville, CO families book with us are a single visit. Plan a quiet afternoon at home after a morning appointment. For everything else we do for Louisville kids, start at our pediatric dentist for Louisville families page.

Questions Louisville Parents Ask

Will my child feel the extraction?

The area is numbed first, and your child should feel pressure rather than pain. The injection is the part to prepare for. Every treatment room has nitrous oxide to help a nervous child relax.

How long does a pediatric tooth extraction take?

Most simple extractions take only minutes once the area is numb. Plan on 30 to 45 minutes for the full appointment.

Does my child need to be put to sleep?

Usually not. Most extractions use local anesthetic, with nitrous oxide when a child needs help relaxing. Oral conscious sedation and general anesthesia, given by a board-certified anesthesiologist, are for more complex cases and children with high anxiety.

Will my child need a space maintainer?

It depends on which tooth came out and how far the adult tooth is from coming in. Most of the space loss after a back baby tooth comes out early happens in the first 12 months. That's why we discuss a space maintainer before you leave the extraction visit.

Can my child go back to school and sports?

Skip exercise and hard play on extraction day, per the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry's aftercare instructions. Most children bounce back within 24 to 48 hours and return to normal activities.

Do you have an office for pediatric dental extractions in Louisville, CO?

No. Our only office is at 61 Erie Pkwy, Unit 101, in Erie, and we see families from Louisville and across Boulder County.

Do you take Health First Colorado or CHP+?

Health First Colorado and CHP+ aren't on our accepted plan list. Dental Aid in Louisville accepts both: (303) 665-8228. Our list covers 89 private dental plans, and families without dental insurance can join the Mini Miners Membership.

Book an Extraction Visit

For pediatric dental extractions in Louisville, CO, call (303) 500-3202, text (720) 734-5890, or book below. If your child has swelling or a fever right now, say so on the call.

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