Pulpotomy is the nerve treatment that helps a hurting tooth settle down and stay put.

In kid words

"A pulpotomy is a special visit where the dentist gently helps the inside of a hurting tooth feel better, so your tooth gets to stay right in your smile." Keep your voice calm and matter-of-fact, the same tone you would use for any other visit. Afterward, that tooth often gets a strong little cap called a crown to help it finish healing.

The parent version

Pulpotomy is a nerve treatment used to help save a tooth when decay or an injury has reached the pulp, the living center of the tooth, deeply enough to cause pain. Mainstream pediatric dentistry treats it as a way to calm and protect what is left of a hurting tooth rather than remove it outright, and a pulpotomy is usually finished with a crown afterward to protect the tooth once treatment is done.

Some parents hear a pulpotomy described informally as a baby root canal, since both exist to relieve pain and save a tooth whose pulp has been affected. The two are not performed the same way, and what a specific tooth needs is a conversation to have directly with your pediatric dentist.

Where you might hear it at our office

A pulpotomy sits in the middle of the range of care described on our restorative dentistry page, reached for once a cavity or injury has gone past what a filling alone can fix, and usually finished with a crown to protect the tooth afterward. Comfort options are always part of that plan, worked out with you before anything begins. Nothing happens without you.

If another word from a visit is still a mystery, the rest of the Kids' Dental Dictionary is right here.

Related words

Words that often come up alongside pulpotomy: pulp, crown, extraction.