Missing lateral incisor

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My DD(11) had an orthodontist appointment yesterday as she is missing a lateral incisor. It sounds like the options are going to be:
Remove the other lateral incisor on the other side and have braces to close the gaps or have a false tooth put in. Has anyone had a similar choice and which did you go for? Really not sure how the canines would look next to the front incisors. Thanks

Thank you, I’ve just googled it and it looks like composite bonding can be done multiple times if the tooth is strong enough. That’s a huge difference though isn’t it, 30yrs vs 5yrs!

I can understand your daughter not wanting other teeth removed, it’s a big decision which route to choose.

I don't have two insisors - two of my kids are the same. With me I have two milk teeth coming up to my 50s and girls the took milk teeth out and closed gaps and moved other teeth. Ther other one had a weird tooth come though one side and missing other.

The strange tooth cause pain for years - dentist and us wanted it out the orthodontist t kept it and partial shaped it - ground it down - DS stopped it as he really didn't like the sound. Honestly it doesn't look out of place at all.

Thats such a shame it wasn’t sorted back then for you. I’m wondering if my DD would need any lower teeth removing if they were to close the gap, I’m guessing we will find out at the follow up appointment.

I hope it all works out for you whichever route you choose

My dd had both lateral incisors missing. She had a brace to widen the gap, a temporary bridge attached to a retainer and now a bridge attached to her front teeth. It looks fine and is structurally good but she has the option of implants in the future.

Thanks for sharing, Its nice to know they look good. I don’t like the sound of those dentist tools either!

Thank you. Did they say how old she would need to be for the implants in the future?

Unless someone has at least 6 teeth naturally missing, and even then it is not guaranteed , then it is extremely unlikely that someone will get an implant on the NHS . I have never , in decades of practice , had a patient accepted for NHS implants.
At today’s prices you are talking around £2500 to £3000 per implant so I always advise people to start a savings scheme if their children will need implants in the future.
In general someone needs to be around early 20s before implants are placed as jaws are still growing until that age and implants placed before then quickly look odd and misplaced.
Bonded bridges have a lifespan , for some they last a short time, for some decades but , in general once they have come out once they need to be replaced with something else.
I have placed composite disguise for teeth that have lasted decades , others have lasted a much shorter time , but they can be redone .

That’s really helpful, thank you so much!

I think we will be opting for the removal of the other incisor and closing the gap option (hoping it doesn’t risk any root damage to the rest of the teeth being moved) I’m guessing not from peoples positive experiences on here, but had it as one of my questions for the orthodontist.

My child is missing both their lateral incisors. The canine teeth have grown in beside the front two teeth. The gaps are not large. We had a consult with an orthodontist and they advised three options. One do nothing, teeth are healthy and there is nothing actually wrong with them. Two, as a teenager the canine teeth can be built up to more closely resemble lateral incisors. Three, using a brace, move the teeth to create a gap and have a bridge then implants at a later date. The brace would be essentially breaking their jaw. We have to go back for further consultation to decide. The orthodontist said if it was his child, he would be doing nothing right now. My child doesn’t seem to be suitable for a brace to close the gaps due to the bite in her lower teeth. From previous research I was worried that a bridge could compromise the teeth beside the bridge and the orthodontist confirmed that in his opinion they do. I think we will decide to go for option 2 but are still discussing.

One of mine had similar - the tooth on one side was missing- and we had the same options. We decided to go for the bridge and not extraction on the other side. It has been several years and no problems so far. Yes, the advice is to be a bit careful, but it gets checker regularly and we did not have any issues yet. The Maryland bridge does not damage the neighbouring teeth. An implant might be possible later on, we were told, but happy with the current situation so far.

That is very useful info about the Maryland bridge , thank you

We were told that it can last for a good number of years, and leaves the option of impant later in life. My child was not keen on extraction so really this was the best other option. As you mentioned above, the other point to be considered is if the lower jaw will require modification to ensure the correct bite. In our case, with the bridge only a small correction was needed.

The orthodontist mentioned something about my DDs lower jaw needing to be corrected with one of the options, will have to check with him which option that would be with.

I had one of my insisors taken out as a child and then later I had my other one out and braces to close the gap. They filed the insicors down. I think on close inspection you can probably tell there is something not quite right as my teeth are quite curvy, and not insicor shaped but it’s not as obvious as you would think.

They look great, thanks for sharing

My daughter has two upper lateral incisors missing, she retained her baby teeth in their place and the adult canines moved into the place of the missing lateral incisors.
Shes fifteen now. The options were to keep the retained baby teeth as they might hang on for another decade, or remove them and move everything over so that the gap was further back and have a bridge filling the gap. We went for that option, she’s half way through now and the gap is moving further back slowly.
We were told that implants could be an option and would likely last up to 20 years but would be paid for ourselves once she was an adult, or she could continue with a bridge which could last up to ten years if she looks after her teeth.
We will make that decision as and when we need to but for now we are happy with a bridge further back in the mouth where it’s unlikely to be seen.
The canines will stay in the place of the missing incisors and will be smoothed out but luckily are not too pointy and don’t appear much smaller than the central incisors.
I would be reluctant personally to remove a healthy tooth and would look to having a bridge one one side further back. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Thank you, definitely something to think about. I know what you mean about removing a healthy tooth. How far back are they looking to do the bridge?

DD was missing various teeth bilaterally; she had a bone graft done but her jaw wasn’t strong enough for implants so she has a bridge to replace her missing teeth.

for the canine substitution option, were braces needed on the bottom set of teeth to align the bite?

Dd did have braces on the bottom too but that was just to straighten things up, nothing to do with what was happening on her upper teeth.

thank you

My daughters have this, one still had baby teeth one has 1 missing. We opted for opening gap for my youngest. My oldest we are opening gap a little then removing teeth for bridges.. my oldest had perfect bike so that was the best option.. with my youngest we didn’t want to move tooth around and shape and remove health tooth as my sister in law done that and her bite was off and caused loads of issue especially sleep and her breathing so she had to go through braces again to moves canines back and she had bridges for a while but now she has implants and all her issues settled

Son had both side’s missing. He was given the same option but as he had an over bite it made sense to close the gap rather than make it worse by putting in extra false teeth. I stress this was his choice. Dentist did offer to file the incisors down to not be so noticeable but son said he wanted them leaving as is. Braces off now and it looks fine.

Also we were told by both our private dentist and the NHS one that did the braces having false teeth implanted would be fine but you have to be prepared for repair work all your life as they tend to snap.

My daughter has same issue. We have only been given the option of having one out and a brace though: