Why does my child need silver crowns?

Dental crowns are used to cover teeth with large cavities that fillings can’t repair. Dental crowns act as a protective covering over the tooth, preventing chips, fractures, breakage, and future decay. If decay on a baby tooth is close enough to the nerve or the tooth is damaged enough that it could break, a stainless steel crown is the treatment of choice as it works best long term. Often, if a child has a large cavity on a baby tooth, the silver crown will be required to save the tooth. We don't want to extract teeth with cavities unless needed, and the crown saves the space for the permanent tooth to erupt!