Pedo (baby) teeth serve two primary purposes. The first, is allowing your child tools to eat the foods they desire and second, maintain space in the arch for the adult teeth. Therefore, it is important to maintain baby teeth until they are ready to fall out.
If your child has a caries (active disease that leads to "cavities") in a baby tooth, many times we can stop the active disease with fillings or stainless steel crowns (for larger "cavities").