Crooked teeth/Crowding/Braces

[Erica]

My son's bottom two teeth are crooked - they make a perfect V! Is there anything a dentist can do or do we just have to wait until his adult teeth come it?

[Queen Gwen]

What age for orthodontia?

Dd's permanent teeth are starting to come in, and are obviously going to have a problem...the baby teeth don't have spaces between them, so the permanent teeth seem doomed to crowding. Our family dentist said orthodontia generally doesn't start until about age 12. When I asked about a palate spreader or somesuch to encourage the mouth to "grow bigger" he was blank (my nephew had this done when he was about 9-10yo, so I know this exists). (BTW, I can't remember what the bottom appliance for my nephew was called -- my hazy knowledge of anatomy tells me the "palate spreader" would only be used on the top. )

Has anyone had experience with this? What age did you start? Any books or websites I could use for research?

[Elphaba]

I've seen kids aged 8 or so at the orthodontists, not with full braces yet, but with various appliances.
I am of the opinion that the earlier you meet with the ortho, the better. I had unbelievably bad teeth, so I am probably a bit biased. They may just tell you to bring him in next year, but they may be able to help her now.

[Brandonsmama]

Baby and Adult teeth at the same time

Any other moms out there who have had this experiance? My son has two new teeth on the bottom, just behind the baby teeth. I am concerned that I will have to have the baby teeth extracted. My dentist will use a local anesthetic, I am sure it will be OK, but I just wonder if anyone has dealt with this, and was it much of a big deal to do the extraction?

[kradmore]

I had the same problem when I was a child. However, my problem wasn't limited to only two teeth. I had to have several teeth pulled by the dentist because many of my adult teeth came in either in front of or behind my baby teeth. Because I had my first extraction at about the age of 5, and because I had a wonderful dentist, I didn't really give it much thought. It basically became part of the routine of getting a new tooth. A couple did come in the regular way, and I got to wiggle them out like all of my other freinds. And my parents did the whole tooth fairy thing for me regardless of how the tooth came out. Good luck to both of you.

[Brandonsmama]

update on tooth question

Thanks for the imput. Actually, we went to the dentist last week and they pulled two baby teeth. It was really NO BIG DEAL!! He was a star,and my dentist was great. I got teary. (Just a mom thing!)

[Queen Gwen]

Thanks for the reply. I feel a tad less guilty for not contacting a local orthodontist yet (the molars aren't all in yet...I had suspected they needed to be in before anything could be done). Also, your comment about a "memory" of a bad position was interesting, since that's what happened to me with my lower teeth! Having read a bit about the process I can visualize how it happens, too.

I'd still be interested in hearing others' opinions and experiences insofar as what age they started, hurtles they overcame, etc.

[lauren]

6 y.o. secondary teeth question

A question about my 6 y.o. child who is now beginning to lose teeth and get secondary teeth. Is it a problem to have the new tooth coming in behind the primary tooth? With his first "loose tooth," the new one moved forward as soon as the primary one came out. His dentist seems upset about this tendency, and wants to refer us for an orthodontist consult. Any advice?

[Silly Willies]

This is not totally unheard of.

Try to get your boy to wiggle his teeth more.

Also how much work does this dentist do on kids teeth? Also is he referring you to a specific orthadontist. Maybe trying to get a kick back?

Are these permant teeth coming in streight?

[lauren]

My son has only gotten two permanent teeth so far. One came out in Sept and the second just last week. This is the one the dentist was worried about. Now he has a loose tooth up top (front tooth) so I'll see if that one comes in straight.

This dentist is usually very non-interventionist. He got us through a whole year of waiting (for my son to get older) when he had dental caries at 18 mos., because he didn't want to do anything rash. So his concern seems out of character. Your question about the "kickback" is interesting because this consultation with the ortho. is "free," which makes me wonder a little, about setting my son up for future ortho. work.

It just seems fairly normal to me to have the new tooth coming in behind. My son has one of those intense personalities, and a little bit of discomfort registers as a lot of pain. It is hard to get him to wiggle more because "oh it hurts sooo much mom!!"

Thanks for your feedback.

[lauren]

The baby tooth in question, actually has already come out, between the time of his last appointment and before we could make the appointment for the specialist. The permanent tooth seems to be moving forward o.k.

This pattern happened with both the teeth he has had come in so far (these are the only two he's gotten-- bottom front). The fact that it happened twice may or may not be why this dentist is concerned. He has an upper front tooth loose now. We'll see how this goes.

Thank you for your thorough information!

[Raven1]

I am going to look into this (preventative orthadontia, as I have heard it called) for my son in the next few mths. he has issues with his lower teeth(as I do), and our dentist in Portland reccomended sev. dentists in our new area who do this sort of thing(use spacers of some sort pre-puberty to avoid having to do extractions/use braces later).
Was told it must be done during a growth period, between the ages of 7 and 11 or so.
Don't know much about it as yet, unfortunately, but it sounds better than the alternative, if it works, imo. Kim

[Silly Willies]

My step-dad and his siblings have this problem!

Nothing was done to his teeth, his mouth is crowded and he has problems getting his teeth brushed and flossed. I think he has like extra teeth.

I know for sure one of his sisters had a tooth pulled and for her it made a world of difference.

Depending on how many extra teeth and were they are will depend on what will need to be done. Most likely braces and quite possible removal of the extra teeth.

[lauren]

Thank you so much. I have begun to view this as a place for a reality check on dental procedures, knowing you come from a "mothering"perspective. I do trust my son's dentist and hygienist, but in general the medical/dental world has a different view than ours. Thanks for letting me know what we might be prepared for in suggestions when we get through the orthodontist appt.

I did do a search under mesiodens, and nothing came up. I guess I'll check with Cynthia to see if there will be any more archives added.

Thank you for all your time and energy on this board!

[beanma]

here's a link or two

that might be useful. i did a search on google.com on mesiodens. i have a friend that has one big front tooth. i don't know if that's related or not, but it got me curious. his mom is english and you know those brits and their teeth . (it's a joke -- nothing like making fun of a whole country's teefus.)

anyway, links:

http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu:8000/oralpath/ (click on "supernumerary teeth" in the left frame)

http://xray10.dent.okayama-u.ac.jp/~...-mesiodens.htm
(interesting xrays, but the rest of the site is in japanese)

http://www.floss.com/q40.htm
(short Q & A)

i'm sure there's more out there, but i'll stop here. sounds like it's not a completely uncommon thing, but smilemomma would know more than i would. hope it goes okay.

beanma

p.s. smilemomma, i think some of the new dental forum pages have gone away. it's only 2 pages long now, when it used to be 4. i couldn't find the other thread you mentioned to me about wisdom teeth or threads you mentioned to a couple of other folks...

[lauren]

Thanks! I did find another article today called "Supernumerary Teeth--Classification, Diagnosis and Management" that was very helpful. I just tried two times to add it here as a link and can't figure out how to do that!!

The written out version is:

www.cda-adc.ca/jcda/vol-65/issue-11/612.html

in case anyone else is ever trying to research this issue. It was a pretty thorough article. I feel more prepared to deal with this issue now!

[OceanMomma]

Saffron has a slight overbite too. Nothing major. Someone told me she looked like a little bunny rabbit the other day. I was most offended. dd#1 has had orthodontic work. $5,500 later her teeth look real good. They were slightly crooked & she had a slight overbite, nothing that caused her to get stress from other kids tho'. She had the bit of skin in the middle of her two front teeth as well & it just disappeared on it's own as her teeth came together. I would be very interested in seeing a way of a) avoiding having to wait until she's 14 or so to do anything about it & b) a way to have to avoid paying that much money again. I paid it off in installments, but even so, I was paying all this money every month & she would go there every 6 weeks ( less if her orthodontist happened to be on holiday ) & be in there for < 10 mins.

I have heard that cranial osteopathy when they are babies really helps but I know no one who has been able to back this up with experience.

[barjem]

Orthodontist costs in your area

Just doing a little checking on the cost of braces.
Here in Phoenix,Az. the going rate for 24 months including records,retainer and palete expander treatment is around
$5,000-$5,500.All work being done by an orthodonist.
A friend in Alabama paid 2,500 for the whole deal!!!!

[anothermom]

really early orthodonics

My child's first tooth came in, but the baby tooth had not fallen out (still hasn't). After about two weeks I took him in to the dentist. He looked at it, took some xrays and came out and said there were big problems ahead...and I should take him into the orhtodonist now for consultation. As he is only six, I was stunned.
Also, I thought it was some sort of bizarre scam.

So, I asked my MIL and various other inlaws with kids. They thought it was hilarious. Apparently, in his family, the baby teeth never fall out until they pull them for Orthodonic work, and then they pull between 4 and 7 permanent teeth just to make room for them all. They said it's about time the dentist has figured this out, as their kids should have been referred much earlier to lay the groundwork so to speak. They have double rows of teeth, baby + permanant for YEARS at a time. My SIL also shared with me that the hygenist has a standard joke about lilliputian mouths she trots out whenever she gets her teeth cleaned. Also she shared the cost of all this orthodonic work on her kids, which was truly depressing. My husband only said he had six teeth pulled and wasn't a bit surprised to hear there might be a problem. Given this family history I guess I should follow through on this. (Truly, they all look normal, I had no idea they were some sort of tribe of mini jaws...)

Is there a special type of orthodonist I should seek out to check a very young kid? How much intervention should be allowed? Can they really tell now how big is jaw will be in 10 years?

[lilyka]

. I can't even count the number of people who have had lifelong migraines disappear after their jaws/teeth were aligned.

Wow, I will have to send this to my brother. He totally suffers from headachs that cause him to get sp far gone he starts hullucinating and having terrible mood swings. Maybe he should have that sugery after all.

Lilyka is almost 2. Her teeth are perfectly streight (of course so were mine 25 years ago ) it is just the overbite thing. Maybe I am over sensitve.

Thanks for your posts.