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

[wrightmom]

I am also missing those same teeth. I never had them. As an older teen, I had a bridge put in. Now, my two year old daughter is missing the same teeth. The dentist wants to X ray her to find out if she has them, but I say "What's the sense? What are they going to do about it at this point? Why expose her to the radiation?" I guess these things run in families. My mom and sister have peg laterals (really little teeth).

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Hi, just wanted to let you know my DD18 goes next Tuesday for her first visit for her implants. I will let you know how it went, and cost-wise what we are looking at. She will keep at least 3 of her babies, they are not crowded, but she has to get implants for the front two bottom teeth. Right now the teeth are in a retainer but her bone structure is shrinking (or something like that) so implants need to be done very soon.

By the way, with her teeth after all the what-ifs, no braces were needed. She has a gap between her front two teeth, but so do I and I wore braces for 6 years, so she said she is happy.

 

[janiejake]

Never knew so many other people were walking around with baby teeth still in their mouths! I have one, bottom row of teeth...when I was in my early 20's, a dentist recommended pulling it, so the space could be filled in. Didn't do it. It's still there, over 30 years later....(crossing my fingers)...

 

[juliebean]

I am also missing those same teeth. I never had them. As an older teen, I had a bridge put in. Now, my two year old daughter is missing the same teeth. The dentist wants to X ray her to find out if she has them, but I say "What's the sense? What are they going to do about it at this point? Why expose her to the radiation?" I guess these things run in families. My mom and sister have peg laterals (really little teeth).

Just wanted to mention a reason - my son's front upper baby tooth was not coming out well past when it should have... We finally found out why, there was a large mass of dentine (aka - the material teeth are made of) in between his baby tooth and the permanent tooth. Without the panoramic digital x-ray, we never would have known he needed to have oral surgery to remove the mass. Ultimately, the permanent tooth came down and it appears to be well rooted. This was the best possible scenario, we had thought he was going to need an implant, but having the x-ray and oral surgery prevented that. Something to consider...

 

[Halloweenqueen]

My daughter has a similar situation and we were told to wait a couple of years for baby teeth to fall out.

Now my son has several dental issues and we were told last year to wait. I wasn't given an estimate at first, but I asked for one anyway to start planning. I was quoted a little over 3 grand.

Flash forward to this year. Same issues, etc, but now the actual contract is 7 grand.

Just be prepared.

 

[weHEARTmickey]

Thanks for all of the advice And, yes, PLEASE update me on all of your implants

 

[tinkermom23]

I never knew this was so common. We have the opposite problem. DS11 has extra teeth. 3 of the front incisors. Dentist pulled baby teeth early and said everything looked fine for perm. teeth. Wrong!! He has the 2 front ones which are big like buck teeth and last fall we noticed on x-rays there is another one wanting to come out. Dentist said we have to wait to see where it actually comes down and then he'll decide what to do next. Teeth are so weird!

 

[cdrn1]

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. QUOTE]

My niece had the same issue with the same teeth involved. The option above is what she had done. She is an adult now and has an absolutely beautiful smile. I would not be able to tell if I didn't know.

 

[threeblessings]

I also am missing three permanent teeth. I am 35 and they are still in place and haven't had any problems with them. They say I will need implants when they go, but I am holding out as long as I can. All the DDS I have spoken to highly recommend implants over crowns, but this is as an adult. I can imagine that implants could be complicated for a young child. I wish you all the best with your decisions. Your daughter looks like a beauty and has a gorgeous smile.

 

[RainbowsMist]

My DD who's 8 is missing the same two permanent teeth! She only ever got of them as baby teeth. Our dentist did the x-ray at her last visit and it showed no permanent teeth. He also said it was genetic. I couldn't understand it as neither DH, myself or our other 2 DD's had this problem. After doing some family tree digging we found out it was a genetic trait on DH's side. Who knew??!! lol

Anyhoo..our dentist has said to let nature takes its course and wait for the baby teeth to fall out (which could take forever at this rate..she's only lost 6 teeth and she's 8 1/2!). She'll then need braces and implants. What bothers me most is one of her permanent front teeth is REALLY crooked. Our dentist said it was because that permanent lateral incisor tooth up in the gum is missing and it wasn't there to "guide" down the front tooth when it came in I just feel so bad for her because her baby teeth were all so perfectly straigth and cute as a button!

I too am amazed at the amount of people missing these two teeth..and teeth in general!!

 

[tink576]

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!

We saw DD Orthodontist (for the 1st time) today. She took several pictures & a panoramic x-ray of her mouth. We were hoping she could keep the baby teeth while wearing braces, retainer, etc...then replace baby teeth with implants once they fell out. Well, that's NOT gonna happen.

Her canines are basically RIGHT on top of her baby lateral incisors. So, the canines will eventually resorb the incisor roots, causing her to lose her baby teeth within a year or two. So we will have to have the "fake teeth" connected to her brace wires (and then retainer.)

Dr. doesn't want to put braces on until DD loses 10 more teeth!!!!!! She still has to lose both upper lateral incisors, both upper cuspids, both upper bicuspids, both lower first bicuspids, and both lower second bicuspids. Sooooo, Dr. says she doesn't want to see DD for 9-12 months. She doesn't think DD will even be ready for braces for 1.5 to 2 years. She will not be ready for implants until she's close to 18 yrs old (or whenever she stops growing.)

We didn't even discuss price because who knows what it will be in a couple of years! We weren't charged a dime for the exams and x-rays. We were VERY impressed with Dr. and her assistant. They knew precisely what they were doing and said they dealt with these missing teeth constantly. Just thought you may all want to know how this turned out Have a great week!

Hi, I have plenty of experience with this. I am missing both of my lower second bicuspbids. I went through braces keeping my baby teeth for as long as they last, as you know they aren't meant to stay that long though. One fell out naturally and the other had to be pulled because it died and started sinking (because it was loosing its roots and there was nothing pushing it out). I had a spacer thing that wrapped around one of the teeth next to the hole to keep the space open until it was time to get the implants. I never had a fake tooth fill the hole, but it was just because my hole wasn't visible. My friend had to have a fake tooth though, and I think it would have been more comfortable because I was always cutting my gums when I was chewing because I would bite down and things would go right into the hole.

I eventually had the implant procedure when I was 19. The doctors wanted to wait a little longer, but I was having trouble with my top teeth not having a tooth below them for so long and they were starting to lower. The reason they can't do this procedure until you are older is that they need your jaw bone to be fully developed and solidified for this and it doesn't finish hardening until you are at least this old. I had difficultly with this because the "normal" time line is that they put the screw into your jaw and then a month later, when your jaw has healed around the screw you pop the tooth on. Well it took my jaw maybe 5 months.

The procedure itself is much more terrifying to talk about then it actually is. I HATE dentists, but this wasn't really that bad. They numb your mouth so you really can't feel anything but the pressure against your head/jaw. What is disturbing is the noise. Oh the noise! I recommend when your daughter eventually has this to take an ipod with a really big set playlist to listen to and just to blast it (just this once), really blast it to distract from the noise. It really saved me. But again, the procedure itself wasn't bad, it just felt like it took a long time laying their trying to keep your mouth open with people sticking their hands in it. Oh and take layers, I get the chills really badly when I have procedures like this done. Probably because I freak myself out, but we always carry in a couple sweatshirts to lay on top of me to keep me warm.

On a funny note, the company that designed my screw put a smiley face into the screw so that when you take an x-ray you see a smiley face. Feel free to PM if you have any other questions.

 

[tink576]

He also said it was genetic. I couldn't understand it as neither DH, myself or our other 2 DD's had this problem.

Oh and it is genetic in our family, my mom is missing a tooth and my sister is missing one as well. I was the only one lucky enough to be missing two. Actually I am missing 4 adult teeth, but two were my wisdom teeth, so I only had to have 2 of those removed instead of four.

 

[weHEARTmickey]

RainbowsMist: My DD is 10.5 & has only lost 8 teeth!! She's lost the six front ones on the bottom & ONLY her two central incisors on the top. She was very slow about getting her teeth in as a baby too. It just stinks b/c the dentists always told us this was a blessing: "the longer it takes them to come in, the healthier they are."

Tink576: Thanks for ALL of those details! Hopefully I will remember everything. Not to be nosy, okay, I'm gonna get REAL NOSY Would you mind mentioning how much ALL of your procedures totaled? If not, that's okay. Really, 8 yrs from now when we're doing implants, the prices will be totally different anyway.

And thanks again for all the info, everyone. I'm keeping my eye on this thread.