Am I horrible for asking? DH small teeth..

I’m a dentist. It’s likely your DH has hypodontia, in other words missing adult teeth that leads to retention of the baby teeth. Hypodontia and microdontia are very closely linked, and if a person has hypodontia they almost always have at least one microdont tooth.

With hypodontia and microdontia, it is often normal to not have ‘gaps’ as the teeth gradually drift, and in some cases, baby molar teeth are actually wider than the permanent successor.

I may have misread this - but is your daughter is 5? There is virtually no chance of all teeth being microdont- I suspect she just has small teeth. If she has ‘a lot of gum’ and hasn’t been to the dentist in a while, she may have gingivitis with mild gingival swelling. This will also make the teeth look smaller than they are. Do they bleed when brushing?

Regardless, there is no treatment or intervention to be done at this age, and I wouldn’t be taking any radiographs as they won’t change anything. Just regular reviews at the dentist and good brushing until she’s around 9-10 and it can then be re-investigated if still worried x

it may cause some insecurity for her as she gets older

Well then try to be more understanding that it may have caused some insecurity for your DH and also try not to cause insecurity for your DD by making a thing of it.

Your dd has small teeth because they are baby teeth.

Small teeth is microdontia, in true generalised microdontia you would have gaps as the teeth are too small for their mouth. There are a few conditions that can cause quite specific appearance of teeth such as extodermal dysplasia. Some people just have small lateral incisors or peg shaped laterals so just a few teeth are small

Hypodontia is missing teeth.

Amelegenisis imperfecta is malformed enamel

But actually sometimes "small teeth" is just worn teeth, are they small width wise or short? And teeth do vary in size

But before you relocated? Where did you relocate to? If you had concerns about her teeth you could have saved for her to see a private dentist. There really is very little excuse for this. It's her health.

So is it the 5 year old you're concerned about here? If so why haven't they been to the dentist in the last 4 years???

Gosh 13 is a lot. My daughter has hypodontia missing 4 teeth and we have been told she will need lots of orthodontics, possibly implants etc. But she didn't have the baby or adult ones of these teeth

I’m 64 with one milk tooth, a canine. It’s never caused any problem although aesthetically it made my teeth asymmetric. My dentist reshaped and built it up to give symmetry. It’s fine. All my other adult teeth came through as normal, just the one canine still undescended. Don’t suppose it’s going to make an appearance any time soon.😂

@Cantdoanythingright1 Nope I have microdontia and no gaps

There is a condition where you can only have baby teeth and there is no adult teeth. My ex had this (not for all teeth but a few!) And he has had his baby teeth his whole life. They havent fell out because there no adult teeth pushing them out.

One of my children has hypodontia (and I suspect their sibling might also). They're missing about 13 adult teeth, so the baby teeth in these positions haven't fallen out as there's nothing coming behind to push them out. While thankfully it hasn't affected them in any significant way so far, they're looked after at a specialist dental clinic with regular reviews and x-rays. There's no family history that we're aware of and they don't have other features of the syndrome that it can sometimes be part of. When their jaw is fully grown they'll need permanent implants/veneers.
I'd get her seen by a dentist sooner rather than later, OP, and mention the family history. Better to know early on if there are likely to be problems.

I worked with someone, now in his 60s who never lost his baby teeth. His DC did though. It’s never caused him any issues and his dentist wasn’t bothered either.

Dentist here!
Hypodontia, is some teeth missing,
Microdontia, is small teeth.

Look up hypodontia.

My daughter has this. If you have any doubts see a dentist ASAP. An x-ray will confirm if the adult teeth are waiting in the gums or not. I wish I had investigated this sooner. It is genetic / hereditary - although we know of no one in mine or my husbands family who has this.

Sounds like it's something he's a bit insecure about, hence the (completely uncalled for) blow up.

Just speak to the dentist, mention the family history. They'll know if it's anything to worry about.

What colour are they? My daughter and I have dentinogenesis imperfecta so our teeth don't have proper enamel, they are small and weak and grey/brown colour. It is genetic.

@moltenpink Are you sure you don't have impacted adult teeth that never moved into place to push the baby teeth out?

So she does have adult teeth? I have a baby tooth, but there is a missing adult tooth so taking it out would never have helped me.

My DC had to have his baby upper canines pulled at age 16 and exposure and bonding of the impacted adult canines that were horizontal in his upper palate. The gum is removed to place chains on the teeth and have them pulled into place. This may have been avoided if he had his baby teeth pulled earlier.

I know someone who had this- all of them and now as an adult they are falling apart and her mouth is an utter mess. You need to ask her dentist.

No because DS who is 1 nearly 2 has bigger teeth than DD.

But your DD is still a young child? So comparing the teeth of 2 small children isn't going to be indicative of an issue with small teeth in adulthood.

My husband 36, has at least 2 baby teeth still.

His sister also has a baby tooth.

All fine at the moment but may have to be extracted in the next 10 years.

Thats interesting, my daughter has retained some baby teeth and we have been told by 3 dentists that she needs them removed ASAP (our dentist, a specialist dentist and an orthodontist) as will cause lots of problems when older as her adult teeth won't come through and baby teeth gradually dissolve, so will be left with big gaps?