Crooked baby teeth - should I start saving for the orthodontist already?

[ChutneyMary]

Hello

My DD2 is nearly 12 mths and has just got 5 teeth. First 2 appeared at the bottom and are fine. Top 2 have a huge gap between them but fine. 3rd one appearing on the bottom but at a 45 degree angle to the one next to it. It's really out of line with the rest and I am worried that there wont be space for all her teeth.

Realistically, I know there is nothing I can do about her teeth positioning and I will mention it to the dentist when I am next there. Does it follow that her adult teeth will be crooked? Her big sister has a really good bite and I was just a bit surprised to see this tooth appearing at a jaunty angle.

My bottom teeth are fine but DH's are overcrowded. His teeth are big and mine are fairly small, in case she has inherited my mouth and his teeth.

Sorry to panic - seems trivial in comparison to what others have to deal with - but does anyone have any advice?

Thanks.

Your baby's teeth might straighten out a lot, the tongue tends to push them into place (a bit).

Just my experience, my teeth are almost perfectly straight, DH had to have 8 teeth removed due to overcrowding (and braces). I only breastfed, never let them have dummies, 3 DC haven't a cavity (yet!) between them.

So DS had perfect baby teeth. But his adult teeth are coming in awful; we will pay #80 just to get a private consult with an orthadontist, and heaven knows what more for actual treatment (DS will need a brace for anterior crossbite before the year is out). He's only 8. So... I suspect you can't tell from baby teeth how teeth will go later. Being small for age or getting adult teeth relatively early are probably as big risk factors as anything else.

Thanks Alardi. She is BF without a dummy too, but has thumbsucked since about 2 weeks.

I was just a bit surprised to see its position, esp as DD1's teeth are (at the moment) very straight. Still, you are completely right and may be DD1 will have the braces and DD2's will right themselves! Plenty of time to save up.

Thanks again.

Hi,

My DD, now two-and-a-half, has exactly the same with her "third" bottom tooth as you have described, and I too was surprised and a bit concerned. However, our dentist was entirely unbothered and simply said to wait and see what happens as crooked baby teeth don't apparently necessarily mean crooked adult teeth.

TRQ