DD Missing Lateral Incisor Teeth (NO PERM. TEETH!) update#59

[weHEARTmickey]

DD10 has always had a big gap between her two front (top) teeth. The dentist has always told us it was "a good thing" so her permanent teeth will have room to grow in, without crowding. Well, after her last check-up, he tells us the x-rays show there are NO permanent teeth under her baby lateral incisors (the teeth NEXT to the front top teeth.) This is why she's always had a big gap.

So, we head to the orthodontist on 1/31 for a consultation. Dentist mentioned if ortho. decided to do implants, it could be a very tricky procedure with a child. He only recommended 2 in our entire area b/c the nerves are so much smaller in children & he wouldn't want someone to damage nerves, where DD would then lose more teeth!

When I called for appt, receptionist mentioned ortho may try to KEEP baby teeth (lateral incisors.) Has anyone ever had to deal with this? Can you describe your experience? Will it be very painful? How much should we expect to spend? (Braces will also be involved.) TIA!

 

[Vickibean]

I'm now 36, and I am also missing one of those teeth. My baby tooth stayed in until my freshman year, when they pulled it and I got braces. When the braces came off, I had a retainer with a tooth in it. When I was 18, I got a bridge that I still have.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

A little different, but my son is missing 1 of his, and his teeth are so close together that the dentist is recommending that we do nothing about it. I think I'm going to get a second opinion.

My husband is missing 1 too, but his was because of an accident. He had it at one time. So his dentist just used braces to close the gap. I never would have noticed it if he didn't tell me.

 

[casjen]

I had a baby tooth until I was in my early 30's. It was not one of my front teeth however. It hung on just fine until then and then it started crumbling and I ended up getting an implant.

I don't think implants at her age are typically done. I know they pull teeth but I'm not sure they put them in that early.

I bet an ortho would leave room and then a periodontist would actually do the implant.

My ds is 8 and has a crossbite/underbite. Our ortho refuses to do anything to his mouth until the adult teeth have mature roots. The other orthos we saw wanted to start treatment immediately. Be sure whatever you do you are cautious of her maturing adult teeth.

Good luck.

 

[WLfamily]

My son was missing two baby teeth on the bottom. The two on either side of the front two bottom teeth. X-Rays showed that he also had no permanent teeth below the gums. So....two teeth unaccounted for in his mouth and they were both in the front. We had to have braces put on early because of another problem with top teeth. Long story short...he wore his braces for 5 yrs. When we had them put on they mentioned implants for the missing teeth. In the years that he wore them new technology came out in orthodonticts. What his orthodontist did was this; because he had gaps where missing teeth were he needed to close those gaps. He wanted to pull all the teeth from the back towards the front to close the gaps and this would give room in the back for wisdom teeth also. The front teeth aren't strong enough to pull molars forward so, he inserted two titanium screws into the bottom gum and connected the braces from the back molars to the screws. The molars were moved forward within a matter of 3 to 4 months. Gaps were closed, he removed screws and continued with braces as normal. This may sound painful but my son had no problems with the first screw they inserted and said he felt nothing. The second gave them some problems but they gave him laughing gas and he said he felt nothing then too. He said all he felt was pressure when they were removed. He just got his braces off last June after five long years. He has the straightest teeth with no gaps and you would never know he's two teeth short. Hope this made sense.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

My daughter is missing 5 permanent teeth including her bottom 2. She is 18. They just finally pulled the babies in Sept. She has a retainer with teeth built in right now, but has to go for a consultation for implants.

Make sure your child takes care of their teeth. DD's front teeth she was born with, so they were not real teeth. Her other babies are still in her mouth and are doing just fine. She has them sealed. I have baby teeth in my mouth, and DS also is missing a few permanents. It's genetic for us.

If you have any questions, PM me.

 

[abcboys]

I don't have any advice but my 8 year old lost one of his lateral incisor teeth over a year ago and never had an adult tooth grow in that spot. His other side the baby tooth is still there. I made a mention of it last time we were at the dentist (not for him but for by other son) and they tried to pull his old x-rays up to see but the x-rays didn't show one way or the other. The fact that it has been over a year since the baby tooth fell out makes me wonder if there's anything up there or not!

 

[dismom301930]

I am interested in this as well because my DD10 is missing the same two teeth. We are just starting her orthodontic treatment next week (first step is headgear to correct her bite) but from what I understand there are two main options.

The first is to pull the baby teeth out and then use braces to move the incisors over toward the front teeth. These would then be reshaped a bit to make them look less like incisors. This is not a good option for my DD b/c she has a severe underbite and she cannot afford to lose two teeth from her top jaw, but it may be an option for your DD.

The second option is to keep the baby teeth in place as placeholders for permanent implants when her mouth is done growing, around age 18-20. They can be bonded somehow to make them look like the rest of her teeth. If they fall out, she can get a bridge with temporary teeth until she gets her implants. This is the option we are going with because of my DD's bite and because I think implants are probably better for her in the long run. None of the 3 dentists/orthos we consulted with suggested doing an implant until she was fully grown.

Good luck with your decision.....I know that it will all turn out fine for my DD in the future, but I am afraid that we may have some tough teenage years ahead of us!

 

[mom_2_K'Lynn]

I just turned 26 and am missing 8 teeth total. The dentist had already pulled my baby teeth before realizing I didn't have 2 permanent teeth for lateral incisors. It wasn't a big deal. Starting in 6th grade I got braces and wore them for a total of 5 years and what my dentist did was pull all my teeth foreward on the top. They then shaved the teeth down a little so they didn't have the pointed look. Noone even knows now unless they have a background in dentistry. I did have fake teeth attached to my braces for a short while and I will say this, I hated it. I am so glad we went the route of just pulling the teeth foreward. Hope this helps!!

 

[jakoky]

HI there, my son had a very large overbite...to correct it, they pulled two top teeth, the ones behind the eye teeth...the plan was to pull all the teeth forward....4 months after pulling them, he jaw did a huge grow! The ortho then had to replan his whole "plan" lol as the bottom jaw caught up...anyways, his 22 months in braces became 39, but they are now off and this teeth are beautiful, you have no idea he is missing those teeth...I realize with your daughter it is completely different, but it is amazing what they can do and fix! Good luck on whatever is decided!

 

[weHEARTmickey]

WOW! Thanks for all the advice I take, from what you are all saying, is that the ortho wants to keep those baby teeth so she won't have to do implants until much later? I thought they meant they would try to keep them forever. But now it makes much more sense. SO glad they are going to try to avoid implants this early.

Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings (and everyone's teeth are different) but I have a friend with the same problem as DD. She told me her ortho pulled ALL of her teeth forward, to fill in the gap. I always thought her top teeth looked "a little odd" and now I know why. I don't want DD to look strange! She's becoming self conscious about her smile, and the pic below will show you why. She's such a precious, happy girl, and I hate the thought of her disliking her smile.
(sorry, I've NEVER figured out how to minimize the picture size.)

 

[krcit]

She's adorabe!!! I'm missing a coupe of adut teeth. I'm missing the second tooth next to my incisor(so front tooth, then an incisor) They bonded my incisor so that it kind of filled in the gap, if that makes any sense, lol. I also stil have a baby tooth..the 4th tooth. I'm 41 and it's still there!

 

[weHEARTmickey]

She's adorabe!!! I'm missing a coupe of adut teeth. I'm missing the second tooth next to my incisor(so front tooth, then an incisor) They bonded my incisor so that it kind of filled in the gap, if that makes any sense, lol. I also stil have a baby tooth..the 4th tooth. I'm 41 and it's still there!

It's just amazing to me that all of you still have your baby teeth!!!! I need to post a picture of my smile so you can see my dysfunctional incisors They are TEENY tiny & my baby teeth were probably bigger.

 

[powellrj]

My DS is missing 4 perm teeth. He is now 19 and when we took him to the ortho, we were quoted a price of $18,000. This was 6 or 7 years ago and I am sure the price is much higher. Our ortho recommended doing nothing because he had no other problems. He said the baby teeth could remain for most of his life. I know my DSIL is in her 40's and she still has several.

Good luck and she is cute as a button!

 

[seashoreCM]

My gut feeling is to not extract good teeth ever.

If a permanent tooth is missing due to a birth defect, then the baby tooth in that location might remain there for many years and should be taken care of. If it does fall out, then think about an implant.

Health hints: http://www.cockam.com/health.htm

 

[LisaNJ25]

She is a cutie!!! Good luck! My 11yo daughter has the opposite problem. she had 5 front teeth. She had the 3 extra pulled (all 5 were up in her gums). She still has no top front teeth and has to go have a procedure done with chains that will gradually pull the 2 front teeth down.

I feel bad for her since she is in 6th grade and is also become very self conscience.

 

[dfchelbay]

I can't help with your situation, but wanted to add that I was born with two sets of adult teeth. One set behind the other on the roof of my mouth. Had them all pulled as a child. Never had a problem with space. In college, my wisdom teeth began to come in and my dentist sent me to an oral surgeon who told me I had enough room back there and they were coming in straight, so just let them come in. I was miserable and in pain for months. I feel so bad for babies who have teeth coming in. It's painful and just makes you feel like crap until they're done growing.

 

[gules]

If it's only 1 tooth, I wouldn't worry. I'm missing the tooth just off the front two (no idea what it's called) and I needed braces really early to re-space my teeth. The braces themselves were pretty bad for me since my teeth were REALLY messed up and needed a lot of work. My worst problem was when they were trying to clear the space where the tooth needed to be and they put a kind of spring there. The spring shredded the skin of my lip until my ortho (who was great) had it padded with some kind of tube. Then it was just normal teeth moving pains.

I don't think your ortho will recommend that your child get an implant at her age. Mine told me not to even consider it until I was 25 so I would be fully grown. Even then, you go to a dental or cosmetic surgeon (I think) and they need to determine if you have enough bone in your jaw to use an implant.

I had a bridge put in, and as I said mine is right in the front for everyone to see. It's a rare person who notices one of my teeth is fake, and that's usually because I have a HUGE smile and laugh when something takes me by surprise. Before the bridge, I had a retainer with a fake tooth, and before that, a fake tooth attached to a brace (the space cleared before all my teeth were straight!). So you may never need to pay for implants at all.

If you opt in for the bridge, it will be important for your daughter to learn thorough care for dental implements. Braces were good training for me, since you need to get used to brushing and flossing something with small gaps and spaces. I am told that an abused bridge lasts for around 5-8 years, and a well-cared one can last almost indefinitely.

Hope this helps!

 

[weHEARTmickey]

My DS is missing 4 perm teeth. He is now 19 and when we took him to the ortho, we were quoted a price of $18,000. This was 6 or 7 years ago and I am sure the price is much higher. Our ortho recommended doing nothing because he had no other problems. He said the baby teeth could remain for most of his life. I know my DSIL is in her 40's and she still has several.

Good luck and she is cute as a button!

$18,000 6 years ago Should we find dental insurance QUICKLY??? (We were just going to pay cash & hope for a cash discount, but $18K???) Was this for braces + implants?

And thank you, EVERYONE, for the sweet compliments about DD. She is as precious inside as she is out.

 

[MickeyManiac]

My DS16 is missing the same two teeth. In his case they extracted the 2 bottom teeth below them then used braces to bring them all together. He was in braces for 2 years and his teeth are beautiful. We started early and he was out of braces about the time he turned 12. (he's still supposed to wear a retainer at night) You would never know anything was missing when you look at this mouth. But, every mouth and jaw is different. Now his wisdom teeth are starting to come in and the Ortho wants them in for as long as possible. He has room for them and they don't want to mess with his spacing until he's older and has stopped growing. Oh and his braces cost $4000.