Our 14 yr old DD adult lateral incisors never grew - what option did you go for?

[Nabu]

My husband has been overseeing the appointments to the dentist and Orthodontist. I went along to get my 14 year old DD's braces fitted and I learnt for the first time that they have a hereditary condition where her adult lateral incisors will never grow. My husband said the only options they were given was do nothing or have braces out in and for the canines to be shaped as lateral incisors. My concern is the canines are very pointy so if they are shaped and filed down they would be tint!

Having bow done some reading it appears she could have a bridge or implants put in instead but my husband was certain this was not an option given to her. What do we do next? Fortunately the braces were just fitted yesterday - is it too late to revise her options. They did have to take one baby tooth out before having the braces put in. Thanks in advance, just really panicking that the current procedure might not be in the best interest for our DD.

I have this. Originally I was advised to have an implant or bridge as an adult, for some reason they didn't do it at the time, but recent wisdom from dentists is to avoid this and have existing teeth reshaped as you've been advised.

Apparently dentists are moving away from implants in a lot of cases because of the potential for future complications (and its a very invasive procedure). I never wanted a bridge either.

DuchessDandelion thank you for your response. That has made me feel better. I was worried they may have mis-advised us. I just want our DD to be happy with what has been decided for her and something she can manage which is sustainable and easy to manage for her future. Thanks once again.

JenniferBarkley many thanks for the photo. Your teeth are beautiful. That has really reassured me. It is amazing what they can do. I think because her teeth need straightening I can't imagine what it will look like in the end. Your photos has really helped me see what it can be like. Thank you!.

My teeth were horrendous before braces.

A friend had an accident as a child and lost many baby teeth, her adult teeth grew extremely crooked as a result. She's just finished invisalign in her late 30s and the results are incredible, I can't stop looking at her teeth when I see her. Orthodenture is a wonderful thing!

There are very few reasons to file healthy teeth. Filing them can lead to problems now or later in life. Don't go down that route. She'll be fine without incisors. (This based on advice on a related, but different, issue from our very good dentist when one of our DC was in their teens.)

There's also no reason to straighten teeth unless they are very wonky and it is causing genuine problems physically or in terms of image if say one is very obviously out of line. The fixation with "perfect" ie unnatural teeth in colour and alignment is causing people a lot of problems when usually the teeth were strong and healthy in the first place.

I think that you need to be getting her a 2nd opinion at the least, this dentist sounds irresponsible.

If (and it's unlikely) she wants to get this done for cosmetic reasons when she is an adult, that is up to her.

@LadyMarmaladeAtkins some very sweeping statements there. Which part of Google did you get your quals from?

JenniferBarkley thanks for your time and encouragement. I am grateful you shared your experience. This is all new to me, especially with not having all adult teeth growing through. I think I am anxious as my husband and DD can't answer any of the questions I have...I wish I went to the consultations. I assumed they were straight forward like our other child's braces experience s they did not need to have any baby teeth removed and all adult teeth have grown through - just needed to straighten slight overlapping teeth.

Glad to hear that braces and shaping your teeth have been successful and they do look lovely. Have you had any problems with strength or sensitivity of reshaped teeth? As LadyMarmaladeAtkins said filing could lead to problems later in life. Thanks once again.

LadyMarmaladeAtkins thanks for your reply. I wish our DD didnt require any intervention, however, we can see how much it has knocked her confidence and impacted her mental.helath at times. She does require them to be straightened and braces will also (hopefully) deal with her overbite - which is quite severe. I understand what you mean by only I intervening if in pain but I think teeth can impact people psychologically. I will speak to the Orthodontist to ask how he came to the decision to reshape as opposed to offer implants. But from.what I have read here implants might not be the best option. Thanks once again.

I'm 38 now and I started with my braces when I was 12, so that tooth was probably filed when I was 13 or 14. No problems at all, occasionally my teeth are sensitive although more my molars. I hate the dentist and go as rarely as possible, I would happily have another c section over a filling.

I have one canine and one incisor. The only person who has noticed was my DDs consultant orthodontist.

My daughter 1 ago finished with braces, same thing with lat. inssisors , I glad we went for braces, less invasive , you can add vin. cover for cayen. teeth later in her life .

DD has 1 small incisor missing. we did nothing, the gap closed on its own, it looks completely normal. I'm glad our dentist was relaxed about it tbh. Can't see any need to file down the canine.

My teen had one missing lateral incisor and one peg shaped incisor. She has been through years of treatment at the hospital having teeth removed and braces but it has been worth it.
Her peg shaped lateral incisor was built up using the same material that they use for a white filling and now it looks like a normal lateral incisor. They might do this for your child, won't necessarily just be filing the existing tooth. Where her missing tooth is they opened the gap and she has a bridge, we were told that there isn't enough space for an implant.
Her teeth look absolutely perfect now we are so happy with the outcome. There was a long time where they looked worse as teeth were removed and braces were on but it has been so worth it.