Primary (baby) teeth have two important roles: to permit the children to eat their foods and to maintain the space in the jaw bone for the permanent teeth. If the primary tooth has to be extracted prematurely due to decay, a space maintainer has to be placed in order to preserved the space. Failure to do so will result in lack of room for the permanent tooth to emerge. This will cause a crowded disarray of permanent teeth, which will necessitate expensive orthodontic treatments in the future.