My child lost a baby tooth and our dentist says she needs a space maintainer. Is this necessary?

Depending upon the amount of space available, the age of your child (how long before the permanent replacement tooth will erupt to replace this tooth), and other orthodontic conditions, a space maintainer might be necessary. If space has already been lost, a space regainer might be the treatment of choice; or, if there are other problems, an orthodontic consultation should be considered. One of the functions of the baby teeth is to preserve space for the eventual eruption of the permanent teeth. A simple way to test this is to have your dentist perform a mixed dentition analysis (a space availability study). The problem is that the premature loss of a baby tooth will generally result in the loss of about 1mm of valuable space per year.