To hope my 7yo doesn't need his baby teeth pulling?!!

[cadburyegg]

DS7 hasn't lost any teeth yet. His bottom two adult teeth came in behind his baby teeth last Christmas, the bottom two baby teeth have been wobbly since but still have some way to go.

The dentist we saw in February said that they would probably fall out in a few months but they haven't yet. Next appt in October half term and I'm a bit worried they're going to suggest pulling them. DS is of a very sensitive nature and don't want to traumatise him or put him off dentists forever. Not sure what to do. Anyone else been in this situation? Am encouraging him to wobble as much as possible, eating apples etc and he eats normally.

I don't think it will be nearly as traumatic as you're expecting. They'll come out very easily by a dentist.

Dentist would not advise pulling teeth if it were not required.

Baby teeth need to come out. He will not be traumatised. If it does occur, it is a necessary medical procedure. My DD had to have two removed from on top of adult teeth. The dentist applied a bit of numbing gel to her gum and removed them super quick with an instrument. Then she got a sticker. No trauma involved.

If your DS is sensitive, try and be reassuring without pandering. The bigger a deal you make it, the more nervous he will be. You don't mention any SN so apologies if this is a factor.

We had this and I avoided the pulling by waiting and waiting and not going back to the dentist until the baby teeth had fallen out…. And now DC has an underbite and will need braces. They are ASD which is why I avoided the pulling but they are more freaked out by the braces. :( I would 100% go and do whatever is advised.

Ds2 had this. They came out with a single tweak, it was literally nothing. First teeth have barely any roots.

My DS2 also had this. He had to have quite a few out.

He was a bit nervous and braced himself for it with his eyes shut. The dentist put the numbing gel on, did something with a pointy instrument and it was over and done in seconds. We all (mostly DS) had a big laugh at how surprised he was to hear that it was all over already. He didn’t notice the teeth coming out and had thought she was still just putting the gel on.

Yes DD13 had to have one out this summer. It was the right thing to do. She's ASD so struggles with the dentist so we went to a sedation clinic. It went super well, was really quick. She now has a bit more space which is what she needed for her adult teeth.

It’s not a big or painful procedure. You’re building it up to be something it isn’t.

My autistic ds, who has huge sensory issues and has always found dentists visits incredibly challenging had adult teeth coming in while baby ones we're still there and ended up having to have the baby ones pulled. Once we'd worked through getting him into the actual seat with his mouth open he didn't even notice the extraction because the baby teeth basically had no roots left - the dentist had to exert basically no pressure at all. It was totally painless and he couldn't stop talking afterwards about how easy it was and he wished he'd known beforehand how it would be.

The issue with not getting the baby ones removed is that they prevent the adult ones moving into the right spot and then that can lead to much more invasive and painful orthodontic work later on...

I had to have my ‘baby’ premolars pulled when I was about 10 and it wasn’t remotely traumatic, honestly! By the time the adult teeth are developing underneath, the baby teeth don’t really have much/any root left and they come out really easily. It was nothing like having to have an adult tooth pulled. Chances are your son’s teeth will fall out naturally soon, but if they don’t, having them pulled isn’t a big deal at all.

Do you get him to wiggle them about on a daily basis? We have had this and it took a couple of months but they came out. At least 2 times a day I told my daughter she needed to wiggle them around to make them fall out.

Another one here to say it's not that bad. 7yo DD had one out about 6 months ago, she was a bit nervous beforehand but coped brilliantly and it was over really quick. The dentist called it having shark teeth, because the teeth were lined up behind each other and she thought that was pretty cool.

By all means get him to wiggle them in the meantime, but if the dentist suggests removing them, definitely go along with it.