Objective To explore the aesthetic effect of transparent crown restoration on caries of maxillary primary anterior teeth in children. Methods A total of 80 children with caries of maxillary primary anterior teeth who were treated in the Department of Stomatology of our hospital from June 2023 to June 2024 were selected, and they were divided into the control group and the observation group by the random number table method, with 40 children in each group. The control group was treated with traditional filling restoration, and the observation group was treated with transparent crown restoration. The aesthetic effect, restoration retention rate, secondary caries rate and satisfaction of children's family members were compared between the two groups. Results After treatment, the scores of color matching and shape satisfaction in the two groups were higher than those before treatment, and those in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P <0.05). The restoration retention rate of the observation group (95.00%) was higher than that of the control group (80.00%) (P <0.05). The incidence of secondary caries in the observation group (2.50%) was lower than that in the control group (15.00%) (P <0.05). The satisfaction rate of children's family members in the observation group (95.00%) was higher than that in the control group (80.00%) (P <0.05). Conclusion Transparent crown restoration has a good aesthetic effect on caries of maxillary primary anterior teeth in children, and is superior to traditional filling restoration in terms of restoration retention. The satisfaction of children's family members with the restoration effect is high, which is worthy of clinical application.