Many thanks to all who responded.  I feel much better about the
situation.

She may not need a crown. Front teeth if they are intact even if you
do a root canal do not need crowns/caps. Only teeth further back in
the mouth after the eye teeth require crowns after root canal
procedures.
Be very careful as there are some unethical dentists who automatically
place crowns even on front teeth because they can get paid more from
the insurance companies. If the tooth appears in good shape without
the filling from cosmetic point of view then most likely you do not
need a cap. If you find this is the case you might want to get a
second opinion. Furthermore keep in mind that even if a cap is needed,
many times a veneer can be placed which is much more conservative.
Finally keep in mind that doing a single crown or veneer to match a
natural tooth is very difficult and if your daughter decided to bleach
her teeth to make them whiter there will be a shade discrepancy. That
is the reason why more than one tooth is capped. Doing 2 teeth can
lead to the buggs bunny look minimum 4 can be made to blend i, ideally
if you are doing veneers/or cosmetic crowns you would want to cap or
veneer all the teeth that show when your daughter smiles. This could
add up to on average 10 upper teeth which is very expensive. So in my
opinion if you can go without a cap/veneer the better. Bonding if done
well could last a long time too and is much easier to match up to
natural teeth as far as shade. However even with bonding you have the
problem of bleaching the teeth and the bonding standing out as a sore
thumb. I agree that right now your daughter is to young for a cap
maybe even a veneer because the teeth have not matured around the jaw
bone and if you try to do the veneer or cap now the tooth will grow
out of the bone more and be more exposed, this creates a problem
because the edge of the veneer or crown where it meets the tooth will
become visible.
So be very careful.

Alexander Vasserman DDS
www.smilesbyalex.com

This sounds like apexification or apexogenesis.
If the apex (tip of the root) is not yet closed it
can be stimulated to close with Calcium Hydroxide.
Generally this can take up to a year or longer.

CaOH also can prevent or treat external or internal
resorption which is rather common in traumatized teeth.

8 y.o. is rather young for a crown IMO.
To get maximum esthetics when a crown is
ultimately indicated I recommend an all ceramic crown.

Chromatec is the best looking IMO.

Hello all,

Our then 8 year old daughter, on a trip to a friends house last
winter, took a tumble on a trampoline and traumatized one of her upper
front teeth.  The dentist performed a root canal.  At the time, she
did not cap the tooth.  She informed us that at our daughter's age,
the canal was not ready for capping and we would have to wait while
the canal "closed" on its own.  She inserted some initial filler after
the root canal and on subsequent visits over the past year has
occassionally added more filler or just checked the status of the
canal with an x-ray.  According to the dentist, this is becoming
standard treatment for children's root canal therapy.

We are close to our one year anniversary of the event and are getting
a bit anxious about this treatment.  We've been told that the tooth is
more vulnerable until the crown is in place.  Our daughter is very
active in sports and we would like this to be resolved.

We would appreciate any insight from a dental professional or anyone
with a similar experience. Thanks.