My 2 year-old son just got his two upper front teeth extracted using oral sedation and it was traumatic for us especially for my son. Our predicament right now is that the two teeth right beside the ones that were extracted are also due for extraction or root canal. I could not bear to see my son go through the extraction again. Would a root canal be a better option for us to pursue? Would it be less traumatic for my son? Does root canal give a total assurance that these teeth won't be infected until they naturally fall off? If someone out there can help me out, I would greatly appreciate it!

Danicajon,

There is no guarantee that a root canal will preserve these teeth until they are due to fall out. If your son had a traumatic experience having the two teeth removed he certainly won't like having the pulpotomy done.

If he had had a GA then all teeth would have been repaired in one visit and he would not remember much of it at all. Having repeat visits with oral sedation can be very hard on a little guy.

Good luck

As far as I'm concerned pain from dental procedures ranked high to low is:

Cleaning
Periodontal cleaning
Cavity
Crown
Implant placement
Extraction
Root canal
Jaw bone lowering (crown lengthening)