Baby with extra teeth??

[JacqueslePeacock]

My 19mo DS is teething at the moment. He has 4 upper teeth at the front, and last week it looked like his upper canines were coming through, although strangely far back (leaving a v wide gap between them and the lateral incisors at the front). Now though it looks as though he has his first molars also coming though in the same place as what I thought were the canines! So essentially on each side he has a sharp pointy tooth coming through near the top of the gum, and a flat wide tooth coming through just behind it.

I searched online for "baby with extra teeth" but Dr Google says that supernumerary baby teeth are really very rare, so I thought I'd consult Dr Mumsnet instead. Anyone experienced this? I will take him to the dentist, but I can't get an appointment for a while, so in the meantime I'm keen to know what else this could be. Surely it isn't normal for two teeth to erupt in the same spot?

[amazingmumof6]

all I know is that there should be 20 milk teeth in total.

some of my children and friends have have 2 teeth on top of each other.
these are adult teeth though, but not uncommon and our dentist said not to worry as teeth move a lot and this "crowding" will cause no permanent damage to the teeth or gums or the jaws.
No speech impediment or eating problems either.
the earliest they can start any correcting treatment is about the of 14 (roughly), so we wait.

so although only milk teeth I think it is the same problem, I don't think they are extra teeth, I think they just appearing in the wrong place, but will probably shift later...yes, when dentist is available they can explain it better.

hope this helps

[JacqueslePeacock]

Thanks for your reply! So you think the teeth are just coming through in odd places and will move about to fill up the gaps? It just looks so odd with one right behind the other on each side. Especially since there is a clear tooth-shaped gap between (what I thought were) the canines and the front lateral teeth. It does look as though will be more teeth (actual canines?) to come through there...

I know there should be 20 teeth in total, but so far he only has 9 through and 2 coming through now. In fact, until a fortnight ago he only had 6 in total - this last two weeks has seen 5 new ones after a 10-month gap! Very weird.

[amazingmumof6]

I only said about the 20 milk teeth, coz if he ends up with more, then yes he has extras!!

I'm pretty sure it's nothing serious, and it will either sort itself or the dentist will advise you of what to do.
and as they came so quickly that could be the reason why they aer on top of each other, there's been no time for them to shift in place & rearrange...

I thought too it was some weird mutation or that he was half shark when I first saw my sons teeth like that, but I've since found out it really is not that rare!

good thing they are milk teeth, so whatever happens in a few years time they will be replaced - hopefully in a more reasonable configuration!

[idonthaveone]

Take him to the dentist they wont mind and you can put your mind at rest ?

[breatheslowly]

How far through are they? I ask because if I feel my premolars they have two points, so if they had only just broken through the two points might look like different teeth which were then joined further up the tooth iyswim.

It is normal for the first premolars to arrive before the canines, but it is also quite normal for them not to come through in exactly the typical pattern.

[Willdoitinaminute]

The upper canine teeth often come through after the first upper molars so probably nothing to worry about.

[willyoulistentome]

I wouldn't worry. My son's bottom incisors came through with two fused together so he had one big and two normal looking ones. He's 8 now, and the adult ones came through normal. All 4 bottom front ones are fine.

[SanityClause]

DD2 has an extra incisor. It's an adult tooth, and you really can't tell.

Take him to the dentist for a bit of reassurance.

[JacqueslePeacock]

Ha, breatheslowly, that's an idea - but the ones I thought were the upper canines are further through than the molars, so I don't know if they can be two points of the same teeth (although I will have a good look again tomorrow when he's awake). That would be a big relief!

[breatheslowly]

Yeah - on my premolars the "outside" point is longer than the "inside" point so they could look like they are through different amounts. This appears to be because the outside point hangs over the lower teeth when I have my jaw closed but the inside point has to fit within the lower teeth.

[JacqueslePeacock]

Breatheslowly, I think you are right! Thank goodness for that. You are completely correct about the premolars having a longer point on the outside than the inside (just checked my own mouth). I had another squint inside DS's mouth this morning and it could well be two points of one enormous molar coming through the gum in two separate places. Poor old DS, then - no wonder he has been so fed up for the last couple of weeks. They must be huge and are really taking their time to erupt.

Thank you so much for putting my mind at rest - I really didn't fancy DS having to have extra teeth extracted at such a tender age!

[breatheslowly]

I hope he feels better soon!

[SuedeEffectPochette]

My sister grew an extra tooth front top when she was 1. The one underneath knocked out the one on top. We wondered if that was the adult one, but then she later grew an adult one too in the same place so she just grew (and knocked out) an extra one as a baby. She doesn't seem to have suffered any other ill effects, teeth all normal!