Mom-ninja. Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Has anyone pulled baby teeth to give room for permanent teeth to grow in straighter? The orthodontist recommended that we pull 2 baby teeth (the canines) to make room for his front teeth that are growing in basically sideways. I asked about the permanent teeth under the baby teeth and he said we'd deal with those later. We know that he will need braces in the future, and the orthodontist says that by allowing the permanent teeth he has actually growing in now to have more room will make shifting his teeth later easier. Has anyone done this and it caused any problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 My ds had several baby teeth pulled because of crowding, way to many imo. I left that practice and went to another one who was not so "pull baby teeth" minded. If you are not okay with this recommendation from your Ortho please get a second opinion. Some dentist and orthos have different thoughts on pulling baby teeth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Well, we were told this when ds was 5yo. We got a second opinion and that person had a "wait and see" opinion. We did nothing and ds's adult teeth have grown in perfectly straight with only a very slight overbite. No braces "needed". Family history is of needing braces for cosmetic reasons only, though, so ymmv. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Dd had one pulled this year. She was already in phase 1 of braces--head gear and front four teeth only. A permanent top tooth (maybe the one just past the canine?) was coming in outside the baby tooth and not pushing the baby out, though it was a little loose. Dentist recommended pulling baby so the tooth would come in where it was supposed to. She'll be having another phase of braces and I suppose it could have been moved then, but it made sense to me to pull the baby and have it come down correctly. Probably $35 to us, the baby turned out to have a pretty long root and would not have come out on its own before the permanent was in, and the permanent is now aligned correctly. No regrets here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 DD11 had a baby tooth removed. The adult tooth came in behind the baby one, but the baby one was wedged in tight between the teeth on either side. We took the wait-and-see approach, but that baby tooth wasn't going anywhere. We already knew DD was going to need braces to fix a different problem. It made sense to have the dentist pull that stuck baby tooth so the ortho could use the braces to pull the adult tooth into the right position while the other fix was going on. Removing the baby tooth was a 10 minute process at the dentist office. DD has had her braces for 9 months now and they have worked like a charm to pull the adult tooth forward into the right spot. DS17 had braces to correct the same problem as DD11, but did not need any teeth removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Youngest DS has had several baby teeth pulled over the years. His baby teeth just do not want to let go, even when the adult teeth start coming in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookfiend Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 We did this with my younger son. The ortho pulled his two canines as the two front teeth were aimed directly at each other. It was a great solution for us. The current permanent teeth are mostly straight instead of hoplessly overlapped. The canine holes created were open for a few years (they are some of the later teeth to come in apparently). This time allowed for maturity to also grow his jaw. He is now losing the baby molars as the canines are beginning to errupt. Our regular dentist refused to pull the teeth because he "doesn't do extractions" What??? Anyway, we had to go to an oral surgeon for the procedure. Took 30 minutes max, one day of discomfort and three-four days before the hole was healed over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabeline Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 We've had a few baby teeth pulled out on ds10. His adult teeth came in straight and I can see how this will give future orthodontia work a head start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Both of my kids have had several baby, and a few adult, teeth pulled. We've had no issues. My son has been in orthodontic treatment since age 8 due to a severe crossbite. His treatment is almost done (woot!). Dd started treatment this year. She has a fairly significant overbite and severe crowding due to her GIANT teeth and tiny mouth. There is no room. If it gives you any indication how large her teeth are, and why we've pulled teeth to make room, her molars were banded last week. The average size band they use is 16. One of dd's bands was 27 :svengo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted May 14, 2013 Author Share Posted May 14, 2013 The baby teeth are not being pulled due to not falling out when the permanent teeth grow in. That's a separate issue and not his problem. The baby canines would be removed simply to create more space for his front teeth which are growing in sideways. We know that ds is missing a permanent molar. It's just not there. So that baby tooth we hope he can keep and not have it cause problems. It's just hard to make these decisions for our children. I'm just wondering why not just wait and see how things look when he's older and then do what needs to be done. That's when the ortho said it's easier to help manipulate things now, and pulling the baby teeth is an easier route than doing two phase braces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted May 14, 2013 Author Share Posted May 14, 2013 We've had a few baby teeth pulled out on ds10. His adult teeth came in straight and I can see how this will give future orthodontia work a head start. Can you tell me more? Have the adult teeth under the baby teeth you had pulled come in yet? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 DD13 had a couple of baby teeth pulled. With one, she had lost the baby tooth about a year prior and no adult tooth came in. We pulled the tooth next to the missing one to make more room. It had a groove gouged into it where the adult tooth that never came it was trying to force its way through the tooth. She had two other locations where she lost baby teeth and the adult teeth took more than two years to come in. They came out above and in front of the teeth that were suppose to be on either side of them. In total, she had four teeth above and in front of other teeth and is now in braces to move those into alignment with the rest of the jaw. She also has a 70% overbite. She'll be in braces for 2 1/2 to 3 years, which is a bit longer than usual because she can't have expanders on her lower jaw due to being tongue-tied. (Yes, I wish I would have known to insist having her frenulum clipped when she was a baby.) Her teeth are really messed up. She inherited DH's teeth. He needs braces as well. His teeth are so crooked that he has to have quad cleanings every time he sees the dentist because his teeth can't be properly cleaned otherwise. He's been told he needs braces or he'll lose his teeth. We're hoping to do that soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Occasionally Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 DD just had an ortho appt this morning where we were advised (for the third time--and that we should do it now) to pull a couple of baby teeth. She has a "peg tooth" which doesn't have a corresponding tooth on the other side. The ortho wants us to pull a premolar to allow room for a canine to come in straighter and not damage the peg tooth's root ("if it isn't already damaged.") She had one pulled last summer to allow another to come in straighter. There weren't any problems, but had a gap for a little longer than she would have if the tooth had come out on its own. I'm not sure now that we really needed to do it. I'm feeling like this orthodontia thing is a racket (for us--there are plenty of people who need it for issues other than aesthetics, like joannqn's DH.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabeline Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Can you tell me more? Have the adult teeth under the baby teeth you had pulled come in yet? Sure, he had three baby teeth pulled. One adult out of the three has come in. Before we got his teeth pulled the dentist showed me how he adult teeth he did have had come in off center. So when he smiled you could see his top teeth had shifted to the left quite a bit and his bottom teeth were a little to the right. But after pulling the three baby teeth, the adult teeth he has are nice and straight and follow the midline. His bottom teeth look great too. He is still missing his canines, I think. I am hoping the as he continues to grow, his jaw will also make more room for the rest of his teeth and he won't even need braces. My younger son on the other hand already has crowded teeth and I have no doubt at this point he will need braces. He doesn't even have all his teeth in yet but there is no room for more teeth, especially as his adult teeth are wider too. So for my older son it was very helpful to get his teeth pulled when we did. His dentist also explained his thinking and it made sense to me. I agree with others, if you don't see how it will help, get a second opinion and see if it is worth it. I have a hard time trusting dentists. :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Has anyone pulled baby teeth to give room for permanent teeth to grow in straighter? The orthodontist recommended that we pull 2 baby teeth (the canines) to make room for his front teeth that are growing in basically sideways. I asked about the permanent teeth under the baby teeth and he said we'd deal with those later. We know that he will need braces in the future, and the orthodontist says that by allowing the permanent teeth he has actually growing in now to have more room will make shifting his teeth later easier. Has anyone done this and it caused any problems? We did. The orthodontist saw potential crowding problems with incoming teeth. He said if we pulled the teeth (using our dentist, not him) we might save some expensive orthodontic work later. This an advice was aganst his financial interest. We followed his advice and the permanent teeth grew in straight. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Dd had a tooth or two pulled early on and braces later without problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 DD (now 11) had all four baby canines pulled to make room for her teeth when she was 8 (the first time I saw her x-ray I was :scared: ). Her bottom incisors were in, and not pushing out her eye teeth...they were back behind her front bottom 2 teeth). Her upper incisors were blocked by the eye teeth. We pulled them, her teeth straightened out quite a bit. We just had her last 2 baby 2-year molars pulled, and all four 1-year molars. Just not enough space..bottoms so crowded, they have been pushing her bottom two front teeth OUT of her jaw (they are about half-way pushed out at the moment, she got her braces on yesterday). The baby 2-yr molars blocked the eruption of 2 1-year molars, and her eye teeth on top haven't erupted, and we are praying she doesn't need surgery and chains to bring them down into place. Compounding matters, is that her growth spurt is SLOW (essentially, while she has technically entered puberty, there has been no physical progress in that department for 2 years...she's taking after her mamma & grandma). I'm *hoping* that between the 4 permanent teeth pulled, and some good growth...that there might be space for her wisdom teeth ;D (FWIW, we are using the DAMON system, and the ortho said there was *no way* he would feel comfortable with the wait and see approach they normally take. Her jaw just is not big enough, and we already have two teeth in danger of being lost...) DD's ortho work is still about $6k (same as older ds's...who didn't have any of these issues...also, dd4 has worse crowding than dd8...she's already been to the ortho...teeth pulling is in her young future too!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 My 14yo had a lot of baby teeth pulled. Her first 4 adult teeth knocked out 7 baby teeth and took up all the space from those 7 teeth (4 knocked out on top and 3 on bottom). When her next 4 adult teeth came in, they were behind the adult teeth she already had, so that she had two rows of teeth. The dentist had us do an orthodontist consult. He agreed that baby teeth should be pulled, so the dentist pulled 5 baby teeth (making 12 baby teeth out) and her adult teeth moved all by themselves to the openings that were there. But now she had 8 adult teeth taking up all the space from her 12 missing baby teeth. So we had the same problem when her next adult teeth came in. The next 4 adult teeth came in like fangs, in front of her existing adult teeth. Four more baby teeth were pulled to make room, but even that wasn't enough (16 baby teeth out at this point with 12 adult teeth, but still not enough room). At this point, the dentist said that we needed to start interviewing orthos for braces (she was 12yo). The ortho that we went with put her in Damon braces when she was 12.5yo. He started her off with braces just on top. They widened the area on the top (where she was most crowded) and took care of her cross-bite. Then he added the braces on the bottom about 6 months later. Now the top and the bottom were both getting widened with the braces. As soon as there was enough room, he attached the "fangs" to the wire and those were pulled into place pretty quickly. She actually managed to wiggle out two of her baby teeth that were left, but the other two had to be pulled because they weren't going to let go. She was in braces for 1.5 years, then had a retainer 24/7 for 6 months and now is wearing her retainer only at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katinabarton Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 How urgent is it to have baby teeth pulled when adult teeth are coming in next to them? The dentist claims if we don't do it soon cavities will occur. Would like to delay till Summer. Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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