to think i would have noticed if my sons teeth

[outnumbered2to1]

were only half the size they should be and suffering from "trauma and / or erosion"

or is my dentist taking the mickey?

he is only 4 and they are his baby teeth. The dentist was very impressed with the standard of oral hygiene both my boys have (am slightly fanatical about teeth cleaning with the boys) though so plus point there but AIBU to think i would have noticed if he had fallen and knocked out or damaged his front teeth?

Well, I assume your dentist is actually qualified and has a number of years experience. And it's such a specific thing to say about the size of them. Are you just feeling guilty, or upset? My son has two tiny chips on both his bottom two front teeth and I felt just awful about it, even though as the dentist said, they do not impact on the tooth integrity or on his ability to bite or chew. The size thing is nothing to feel guilty about, I'm fairly sure that's just something that happens occasionally, and 'trauma and erosion' may be of a type you couldn't necessarily be expected to spot. I think you do have to trust your dentist unless you have very good reason not to?

My two front top teeth have obviously been knocked badly at some time. It became obvious post teenage braces. My mum has NO IDEA when I did it.

does he grind his teeth?

ds1 does, it's quite common in small children. ds1's are noticeably worn down from it

i think i'm actually upset with myself that i didn't spot it and i've been sitting here thinking that he has been in pain and i've either dismissed it or contributed it to something else.

i honestly haven't noticed if he grinds his teeth yesterday

pomme he is more likely to put his "fangs" through his lip.... has done on about ten occasions so far

i hadn't noticed ds1 doing it either until he stayed the night at my mum's house and she said "did you know he grinds his teeth ALL night"

and she was right!

perhaps you could call the dentist and ask him to elaborate on what he thinks may have caused it?

My daughter grinds her teeth at night. She's 12 and I only realised last year when I had the misfortune to shared a bed with her. It's excruciating.
Dentist quite laid-back about it - said she probably wouldn't be able to do it anymore once her brace was fitted, which has been the case, and once that's off she'll be wearing a mouthguard at night.

As you were...

he did ask if he sucked his thumb (never) or was still using a dummy (not for at least a year) or if he drank fizzy juice or fruit juice (definitely NO fizzy and only ever diluted fruit juice). He also said something about tongue thrusts but i kinda lost my train of thought cos he is quite cute and my mind went somewhere else then....