Late adult teeth

[Sherwood1]

DS1 is nearly 12 and still has 12 baby teeth. Xrays show that his adult teeth are there, but nowhere near erupting. The dentist has recommended having ALL his baby teeth removed to try and stimulate the adult teeth to come through. This seems radical! Has anyone else had this problem, or know anything about it? Can't find much info googling it. We've been referred to the orthodontist but I feel like I don't really know what to do for the best. Any help welcome!

Well I can see it would be embarrassing for him to have such a lack of teeth...but it's only going to get worse the longer it's left....as he grows, his face will too and baby teeth are going to appear odder and odder....saying that, I would want to know the reason for the lack of eruption.

I think that usually, the roots on baby teeth dissolve....making them loose...which allows the tooth beneath to appear.

I found this report from a USA dentist and a girl of 9 had just one un emerging tooth....it gives some causes for lack of erruption within the article.]

But twelve is way more than her single chopper...the lack of online info indicates that it's quite a rare issue...and I can see that you're worried so in your shoes I would be tempted to pay for a one off consultation with a private dentist for a second opinion.

If that is impossible I would definitely be asking the dentist a lot of questions regarding the reasons for your son's lack of eruption...is it a blockage due to extra fibrous gum? Or is it a problem with the routine system which usually ensures baby teeth fall out... and also what will happen if the removal does NOT trigger eruption. What would the plan be then?

Is your son otherwise healthy or has he any issues at all?

Thanks for your reply MrsTawdry.

On the X-ray it showed that the roots of the baby teeth are all still there and not showing any sign of dissolving. He has his four front adult teeth, and adult back molars, but it's the three in-between on each side, top and bottom, that are unerrupted.

I'll ask the orthodontist more questions when we see her; she's going to do a full scan of his teeth. If the extraction of the baby teeth doesn't trigger the adult teeth to come in, they will need to 'expose' the adult teeth and pull them through using the kind of brace shown in the article you linked to (thanks for that, btw). It sounds pretty unpleasant to be doing that to twelve teeth at once... But I know there could be issues of jaw development if he doesn't get his adult teeth in soon, so it's probably worth the discomfort.

The other thing I'm worrying about now is that I read that lack of growth hormone can delay adult teeth coming through, and when I measured my son I realised that he's dropped from the 60th percentile for height, where's he's always been, to about the 45th in the course of the last year. That is, he's not grown for about 12 months. So I've made a GP appointment just in case there is a link between that and his teeth not developing properly.

It's all quite worrying and it's difficult to know where to get information. A private consultation might be a good idea too, I'll see what the orthodontist has to say and then have a think.

Thanks again for your advice!

It would be worrying...they're a terrible stress aren't they!? I think you were right to make a GP appointment about his growth to set your mind at rest.

But remember that Google is our enemy as well as our friend! I'm an absolute Shocker for getting on Google and looking into possibilities and all that when someone I love or myself has an issue. ....drives you potty if you start googling too much. Stay away from the google and if he HAS dropped, I'm sure 15% isn't that much...has he had any illnesses?

Im 23 and still have a baby tooth....dentist said its fine as it doesnt look like its going anywhere! Even had an xray at hospital when having 2 wisdom teeth removed and they didnt seem . concerned either! My little brother is nearly 13 and still had 2 baby teeth and the only reason that they were removed was for his braces to be fitted. ...

Fatty that's not quite the same as having 12. I was also an adult with one baby tooth. That's very common.

My dd who is 12 is in pretty much the same boat as your ds.
She didn't lose her first tooth until she was 9, so it is no surprise her others are late.
We have x-rayed but my dentist has opted to let nature take its course.
Apparently when teeth are removed, the remaining ones move to fill the gaps and cause a whole different set of problems.
My dd jokes that she looks like a 9yr old when she smiles

I had 8 baby teeth removed at that age, so not quite as bad as 12. It took about 2 years for the remaining adult teeth to come in, but they all did eventually without any scary exposing of the adult teeth. I don't remember it being too awful being without all those teeth but that might just be because everything else about being 13 is so awful.

I know its not the same im just trying to explain that to me it sounds very extreme to remove them all with the ops ds being quite young still. Obviously im not a dentist but if your child has some adult teeth already then surely letting nature take its course could be best? He may lose them in the next couple of months even if xrays say no???