I dont really know where to put this as I dont think this is common enough for the childs health board. My daughter is 11. She got all of her teeth late as a baby and didnt lose any of them until she was 8. 2 years ago we took her in and an xray found that she has no adult lateral incisors. The adult teeth simply arent there!
She has an orthodontic consult this month and we have kept up with her cleanings. I am just wondering what the future holds for cases like this. Do they wear retainers and then go to braces? Which is the better choice for a young adult, a bridge or implants?
Her gums are also swelling really bad and hurting over the canine teeth that are coming in. Her upper palate is falling right now so we need to start ortho pretty quick. As of right now, she is missing more teeth than she has! Has anyone been through something like this? Thanks for reading and I apologize if this doesnt go here
I'm not an expert, but can at least give you a similar situation...
My nephew never lost one of his lateral incisors and I believe that he doesn't have the other. His smile is fine. As a matter of fact, I don't even notice which teeth are adult and which aren't.
Why don't they extract her deciduous canines, if she has all the swelling that you spoke of? Is she uncomfortable?
Also, what do you mean that her upper palate is "falling"? I've never heard of that terminology...just wondered.
Why don't they wait awhile for ortho, since she's missing so many teeth and still has the canines to loose. Maybe you should have a second opinion with another orthodontist. My son was 12 when ortho was started. He started with a palatal expander and then braces on the top arch and later on the bottom. He had to loose quite a few teeth before they could begin his ortho, but they waited.
So ask, and/or get that second opinion, about the deciduous teeth, implants, and beginning ortho.
Let us know what happens....and maybe someone else will have some answers for you if we bump this up!
Hi there, your daughter may have already had the consultation by now, but just in case she hasn't, I found this on another website:
"Question:
I am 16 years old and have not lost all of my baby teeth yet. Also, two of my baby teeth (towards the front of my mouth) have no adult replacement teeth. One of these has already fallen out so I have had a gap for quite awhile now. I've had braces on for the past 3 years.
I feel ugly and hopeless with my teeth looking so bad. Is there a chance I could get some kind of cosmetic dental surgery? I would rather have fake teeth put in then wait and live with gaps in my smile. Can you help me?
Answer:
I know how you must feel. From what you are saying, it sounds to me like you have what we call congenitally missing permanent teeth ie. No adult replacements for the baby teeth.
This is often hereditary. Fortunately with proper planning during your orthodontics they can place a temporary tooth on the arch wire. During this time the space can be sized to place implants where the gaps are in the front. When the implants are integrated (~3-6 months) the arch wire with teeth come off and the beautiful porcelain teeth are place in the implants.
At the conclusion of orthodontics most all of our patients Zoom whiten their teeth prior to selecting the final shade for the new teeth. I suspect that you still have baby teeth in the back because there are no permanent bicuspids. Rarely do people retain these baby teeth for life but it may be several years before they are lost. When that happens we simply place an implant in that site. Best of luck to you."
Relax, it is ok. The lateral teeth are the most common teeth that adults/children may be missing. There is a couple ways to fix the problem. Some people choose to have their eye teeth moved next to their front teeth (with braces) or you can have braces that will open the space and when your child is older you can choose to have a bridge or implants. In the meantime after the braces but before the other work can be done your Orthodontist can make a retainer with false teeth in the spots where your child is missing the teeth. It looks pretty good until you can have a permanent fix. I have seen this same problem a lot.
It is ok and there is ways to fix it.
