grace'smom Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 My dd's dentist said she is missing 20 of her adult teeth. She said we need to see an orthodontist to set up a plan of action for dealing with her as she grows... I was not surprised that she was missing teeth, as I am missing 8 myself, but even the dentist looked concerned about it being 20. Anyone else have experience with this issue? For the record, my mouth doesn't look funny or anything. You can't tell at all after five years of braces, LOL! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higginszoo Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 I was missing 6. My dad was missing 12. Wow, 20 is a lot. My brother was missing quite a few as well. He kept his baby teeth into his 20s, and when the roots finally gave out, he got some implants to make up the gaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace'smom Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 I was missing 6. My dad was missing 12. Wow, 20 is a lot. My brother was missing quite a few as well. He kept his baby teeth into his 20s, and when the roots finally gave out, he got some implants to make up the gaps. Wow, that sounds expensive!!! Mine have been OK so far. I can say I will not be letting DD miss any dental cleanings or skip flossing from now on, LOL!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Wow, 20 seems like a lot! I'm missing one and only a dentist could tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calm37 Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 My dd's dentist said she is missing 20 of her adult teeth. She said we need to see an orthodontist to set up a plan of action for dealing with her as she grows... I was not surprised that she was missing teeth' date=' as I am missing 8 myself, but even the dentist looked concerned about it being 20. Anyone else have experience with this issue? For the record, my mouth doesn't look funny or anything. You can't tell at all after five years of braces, LOL! :lol:[/quote'] We just found out this last week that my youngest is missing 2 and they were quite concerned about that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimmy Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Wow, 20 is a lot! I am missing 4 and it causes me no trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace'smom Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 Yeah, I'm surprised too. I didn't know they could even tell what you are missing at her age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BatmansWife Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 I'm slow tonight.....what do you mean by "missing"?? Do you mean that on an x-ray she is missing 20 adult teeth...they're just not there? If so, I never heard of that. So, what's their plan? ETA: I just reread what you said. You said..."she is missing 20 of her adult teeth". Told you I was slow tonight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisamarie Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 My sister still has one baby tooth. She never even knew until a year ago when the dentist mentioned it. She's 35 and no problems so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Wow! My dd is missing two, they noticed she was missing two baby teeth and xrayed her, and there are no adult ones either. Maybe the younger generation is undergoing some weird science-fiction evolutionary process.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 I'm missing 9... 7 on my upper jaw. Hopefully 4 of your child's are wisdom teeth... I feel for your wallet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
********* Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 I started a thread about this exact thing a few weeks ago. Lots of good info. Moose is missing two of his adult teeth as of now. I had a friend IRL share with me that their dentist told her that her 6yo was missing two adult teeth according to x-rays as well, but that they did eventually grow in. Here's hoping. :tongue_smilie: I guess if he really *is missing the two teeth (which are the two on either side of his top two front teeth), I'm going to hope that in the end, it just means that he'll have room for his wisdom teeth to eventually come in. I was a little freaked about two; can't imagine twenty! (Gee, that's not so helpful, hunh. :001_huh:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 My cousin was missing 4. She had to have serious dental work done to deal with it, but it never looked bad (just looked like she had braces). It was expensive for her, I think, though. If your dd is in the tween/teen years now, may I recommend the coming of age graphic novel Smile, which is about dental disasters and girl friendships and boys. It's really funny and sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 My ds is missing 9 teeth. But 20? Wow! How old is your dd? I ask because they just took an xray of ds' mouth and found a blob that may be another tooth. I say this because if your dd is young, there might be some teeth that show up later on. My ds. has already had braces to make things easier later on. The orthodontist thinks that ds might have to have implants. He gave me a worse case scenario of $30,000. :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 My ds is missing 9 teeth. But 20? Wow! How old is your dd? I ask because they just took an xray of ds' mouth and found a blob that may be another tooth. I say this because if your dd is young, there might be some teeth that show up later on. My ds. has already had braces to make things easier later on. The orthodontist thinks that ds might have to have implants. He gave me a worse case scenario of $30,000. :blink: Sounds about right... if my teeth had been done right from the start, it would have cost me about $25,000. We are now over $50,000. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
learningmama Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I do not have adult teeth on the bottom in the very front. Still have my tiny little baby teeth! :huh: I'm scared of when I can no longer keep them and will have to have dental work. I've had them for 33 years or so! My grandma also had the same issue. Although the teeth have lasted and don't look too bad, I wish my parents would have fixed the problem when I was young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 My son is missing two. The baby teeth may or may not fall out on their own. I hope they don't. The ortho said it could go either way. Get ready to learn a whole lot about dental hygiene. It is going to be all about keep those teeth as healthy as possible so they will last a lifetime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in KS Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I have no idea what you'd do with 20 missing teeth. My daughter is missing her two front lateral teeth (the ones beside the front teeth). We found out because the eye teeth started descending at such a severe angle, they caused an abcess on the tooth next to it... So the plan is... When the eye tooth comes in (around 11), she'll need braces to make space for the missing laterals. When there's enough space for the teeth, they'll put fake teeth in the braces... Eventually, she'll get to wear a retainer with fake teeth (called a flipper). She doesn't get to have implants until she is close to 20. I can't even imagine having braces/retainer that long!!! :001_huh: My mom had the same thing and they filed the eye teeth down instead (so she didn't have a "vampire" smile). However, she never felt good about her smile and finally just spent a fortune fixing her teeth... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 If anyone is interested in participating, BCOD is doing a study on this. http://www.tambcd.edu/clinicalstudies/missingtoothstudy.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amey311 Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 The last time my kids were at the dentist, he explained oral hygiene very simply: people are living to be near 100. You're now 10. That means the teeth in your mouth (since Thing 1 has lost almost all of his baby teeth) need to last you NINETY YEARS. Take care of them. They have a lot of work ahead of them. Just in case you need another visual or mental hint when dealing with kids and oral care. I can't comment on the missing adult teeth. I had 4 wisdom teeth removed because of their size. I'm also missing 2 bottom front teeth (incisors?) because there wasn't room in my mouth - my adult teeth were nearly twice the size of my baby teeth. The wisdom teeth appeared to be even larger on x-ray (and my mouth was already full). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace'smom Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 Sounds about right... if my teeth had been done right from the start, it would have cost me about $25,000. We are now over $50,000. :tongue_smilie: Oh my goodness. My husband is going to have a nervous breakdown. Grace is only 6.5- she'll be 7 in March. I don't know how they can tell she'll be missing this many teeth already. My mom said her wisdom teeth came in so there's still a chance Grace might get those (I didn't but maybe she will). My mom said she's missing 11 teeth and I'm missing 8. I had braces for 5 years but other than that no other work needed to be done. If you don't mind my asking how many teeth were you missing and what kind of work did they have to do to fix it? But really- this may not be that bad! Because if you are missing a number of baby teeth but still have a large number of adult teeth then things are going to move around and need help. What they are saying is that MOST of Grace's baby teeth are going to stay right where they are at. She only has four more teeth coming in (the canines) and other than that everything will just stay the way it is- so maybe there won't be much of a problem with things moving around. I hope I'm not just dreaming, LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 (edited) Grace, my parents took a wait ans see approach (although, they put me in braces... which did virtually nothing). I kept my primary teeth until I was in my 30's. I am missing both incisors, both 1yr. molars, and a 2 year molar on my upper jaw and all 4 wisdom teeth. We weren't told about all of my missing teeth until my eye teeth were coming in where my incisors should be (I was 8 or 9). We watched and waited, but they were still missing when I was 13. Even then, they weren't certain about my wisdom teeth. At 13, they put me in "standard braces." The decision was made not to move my eye teeth into their proper position, and do the "least possible." It was the cheapest option, and least invasive. Apparently, not moving my eye teeth into their proper position is what caused my TMJ. Once in my 30's, my baby teeth were starting to abcess and disintegrate (at the root, under the gum...owie!). We made the decision to begin treatment. Not knowing much, we didn't seek more information. We just thought I needed 5 implants, no additional braces, nothing. So, I had 5 retained primary teeth removed, and 5 implants placed... by someone who really didn't know what he was doing, but of course wouldn't say anything to me. Time came to put on my crowns, and the implants were unusable (placed incorrectly). I was then referred to a specialist, and an orthodontist. Neither would do anything until I had my TMJ surgery (my jaw was slipping all the time by this point), which both indicated was probably due to a lack of support caused by my lack of properly positioned eye teeth. So, I had the TMJ surgery, and 5 implants removed in one fell swoop. After that, I was supposed to go in and have another bone graft, and two implants placed in order to re-align my eye teeth... but we moved, and due to finances, I had to stop treatment...missing all of those permanent teeth. We started treatment again, but after so much time I didn't want to go through the 3 year braces plan to move everything. My TMJ is returning (fun). Things shifted, I needed braces again. After braces, I had implants put in. Now, we are just waiting for the first of the year to get the crowns (about $5,000 more). Based upon what I've been told (over the years), had I done the braces/retained primaries thing earlier, I would probably not have developed TMJ (that was about a $15,000 surgery). We'll call not getting a 2nd opinion or seeing a specialist a learning experience (That was $12,000, for the original implants and sinus lift). Ripping out the implants... $5,000. Braces for the 2nd time: $3,000. Surgery for more implants, also more invasive, two sinus lifts, splitting my jaw, and bone grafts $15,000 (bigger surgery, because of all the bone I lost getting implants out, and the bone that was reabsorbed due to a lack of teeth over 8 years). We still have $5-7,000 in crowns... and I'm HOPING insurance will cover some of that (for once). This is why I am pretty conscientious about my kids' teeth. We have a good network of dentist/oral surgeon/orthodontist. And, I'm a bit more careful about "wait and see" approaches (I ask a LOT of questions). My oldest son is missing one lower molar. He will need an implant to replace it, but we won't do anything until after he's 20 or so. We don't know (and aren't worried) about his wisdom teeth, yet. As far as we can tell, my oldest dd isn't missing any teeth. She suffers from severe overcrowding. She has had 4 teeth pulled already, and will need 8 more pulled. Pulling those teeth has dramatically improved her smile and her teeth have straightened out considerably on their own (reducing future costs with braces). My younger ds (8) also has overcrowding, but not to the extreme of oldest dd. He will go for his first ortho consult in January, and we'll do a panogram x-ray and find out about potential missing teeth then. My younger dd (5) has an extra primary tooth. It will most likely fuse to at least one other tooth before we have the set removed... we've been told to expect that they won't come out on its own. Too early to really tell on anything else. My baby girl has her two baby front teeth that are in sideways. At first, the dentist said they would probably turn on their own. It's been 2 years. They aren't turning. BUT, we aren't doing anything right now, either. Essentially, with our kids, they see the GOOD ortho for their first consult when they are 8. They have a panoramic x-ray of their mouth and jaw. We monitor developments, and develop a treatment pan (which is anything from these teeth should be pulled to see you when your baby teeth are all out!). He's a great ortho. My oral surgeon and dentist are also excellent. Missing teeth (to me) can be a big deal. It can cause bite problems, jaw problems (TMJ... painful, very painful), digestion problems leading to major gastro-intestinal issues (from improperly chewed food), improper wear on your teeth, causing them to deteriorate faster, chipped teeth...A tooth here or there, probably nothing to really worry about. A whole host of teeth... IMO, do it right, and do it right the first time. It may be a long treatment plan... but better to do it right, than do it wrong (or not do it) and wind up with multiple surgeries, and additional health/dental problems because of it. WRT your daughter, it all depends upon how many and where they are located (treatment plan). Oral hygiene is a must (regardless). Your ortho should work up a plan with an oral surgeon and your dentist. They are a team. Depending upon where the teeth are, and what is needed, they may all remain in place for a long, long time... and no real treatment started until she's ready (at least about 20), and take about 9 months start-to-finish. OR, the process may need to begin earlier (13-ish), and take 5-7 years. HTH! Edited November 3, 2011 by LisaK in VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elise1mds Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I'm missing four. My mom was missing the same four; one of her cousins was missing something like 8 or 10. I know my son is missing at least one, and I'm not sure about DD yet. I'm surprised it's DS that's missing them, to be honest... up till now, it's been all the females in the family that have had this issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I do not have adult teeth on the bottom in the very front. Still have my tiny little baby teeth! :huh: I'm scared of when I can no longer keep them and will have to have dental work. I've had them for 33 years or so! My grandma also had the same issue. Although the teeth have lasted and don't look too bad, I wish my parents would have fixed the problem when I was young. Giving a bit of grace to your folks... no one worth their salt would have done anything with those two front teeth until you were at least 18-20. All that needs to happen is the teeth need to be extracted... wait 3 mos. or so, have 2 implants placed... wait 6 mos... have crowns put on. You most likely won't need anything more than that. $200 (or so) for the extractions (unless you want to be completely out), $2,000-$3,000 for the implants and $2,000-$3,000 for the crowns. Insurance will probably pay for the crowns and the extractions (if you can show the teeth need to come out), and possibly the implants too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyWifeandMommy Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I have a child with extra teeth, missing teeth and one with everything normal. or what ever normal is. seems we never fit that. anyways the one with the missing teeth is still young and we have a few years until we have to worry about it. He is just now loosing his baby teeth. Daddy had a missing tooth and it seems to be something a few on his side have had unlike my side of the family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 My daughter is missing her two front lateral teeth (the ones beside the front teeth). We found out because the eye teeth started descending at such a severe angle, they caused an abcess on the tooth next to it... So the plan is... When the eye tooth comes in (around 11), she'll need braces to make space for the missing laterals. When there's enough space for the teeth, they'll put fake teeth in the braces... Eventually, she'll get to wear a retainer with fake teeth (called a flipper). She doesn't get to have implants until she is close to 20. I can't even imagine having braces/retainer that long!!! :001_huh: This is the correct plan, but will save a lot of pain and agony in the future (not to mention money). Best wishes to your daughter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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