Leftover baby tooth?

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#1 Post by **Jex** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:47 am

I have retained a desiduous tooth (with no permanent tooth behind it) and one ortho was just like, "Oh, don't come back and talk to me until you've had that thing pulled and then we'll have you get an implant once the braces are off". When I told him that's not an option for me, he was like, "well, I'm not touching that tooth" with such disdain. i did not retain his services.

I realize I won't have a perfect bite, but I am happy I found an ortho who is willing to work with me and my baby tooth!

just curious if anyone else had a situation like that and made the same or different decision than the one I did.

#2 Post by **Betty Bat** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:09 pm

Yep, I'm one of those people who had baby teeth with no permanent teeth behind them - missing lower premolars (I think). In my case, one of them was pulled when I was 12. Because of the space, my teeth started shifting around and that's why I decided to get braces and implants. When I started out my ortho journey in 2005, I had one of those baby teeth left - and I was 53! My dentist and I discussed the situation and I decided to have the remaining baby tooth pulled, get braces to straighten things out, then get the implants.

Just wanted to say that if the baby teeth are in good condition, they can last a LONG time - I knew of someone who had baby teeth when he was in his 70's. But, the size of the tooth and the roots are different than permanent teeth so there can be some shifting as time goes on. If you haven't seen x-rays of baby teeth along side permanent teeth, you should take a look. The roots look really small and shallow.

Implants aren't too bad, if there is no other option. The thing that hurts the most is the cost!

#3 Post by **Jex** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:42 pm

Thanks, Betty! The roots are certainly different, but they're actually pretty good. Implants scare the hooey out of me (and not just the extreme cost! LOL)

#4 Post by **sarahann77** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:32 pm

I'm also another with a baby tooth as well. Mine's my right canine. My dentist originally pushed the implant and the spacing to prepare was the main reason he saw for braces. I did stress at my ortho consult that I didn't want the implant if I didn't have to. He rather agreed. 6 months into treatment he either looked at my xray again or had known..but he then told me that I had a very good root on it that I'd have it for life. I was a bit mad then that my dentist had pushed it when he should have known for the root being well.

The ortho has suggested that the dentist put a little bonding material to match the other side for the size. I'm happy overall so if the dentist doesn't think that'll hold well I might not do it. We'll see - I'm weeks away from being done and on to retainers so only time will tell.

#5 Post by **kaycee** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:04 am

I also had two leftover baby teeth, mine were pre-molars and both were pulled the week before I was braced. One was in good shape and one was mostly filling. My orthodontist explained that most of the crowding in my lower arch was the result of those baby teeth - the baby teeth are much wider than the adult teeth would have been. He also advised that the most pleasing final result would be obtained by having those teeth pulled.

Just don't do what I did - I had my spacers put in on my way to the oral surgeon since the orthodontist and oral surgeon are down the street from each other. Ouch!

#6 Post by **Jex** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:25 am

Thanks so much for your stories! It has been SUCH a dilemma. I got 4 dental opinions on this tooth. Like yours, the poor thing is mostly filling, but the roots are still good. I think it's part of the reason I have crowding, as well, because it's a larger premolar than the other side. Still, my dentist said implants are no picnic, either. I think I might kick myself if it falls out 10 years from now and I have to have an implant anyway AND have to have it made to the size of the baby tooth. I don't think I'd do braces again just to have a permanent-size implant. Geesh.

#7 Post by **kaycee** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:57 pm

Jex,

I didn't have implants, my molars were moved forward to fill in the gaps.

Kaycee

#8 Post by **Dawna** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:58 pm

My son has baby teeth with no permanent premolar behind. The dentist told him to leave it as long as it stays stable, and then to get it pulled/get an implant as soon as it becomes loose. Six months later at his next check up, the other dentist at the same practise told him to get it pulled asap and get braces to bring the teeth forward and fill the gap.

So, I brought him to my ortho and he said my son's bite is so perfect he'd hate to pull teeth and mess with the bite just for the sake of doing it. He agreed with the first dentist and recommended no orthodontic treatment.

So I guess it depends if you already have a problem you want addressed by orthodontia or if you are looking to ortho. treatment because of pulling the baby teeth leaving gaps.

HTH

Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:21 am

nice to know other people have this
but mine is an over retainer INCISOR lol but i have a replacement adult incisor next to it
so right now i have 5 incicors insted of 4 (u can check my sig for my story to see what it looks like)
my ortho says she will allign the arch b4 my dentist can take out the baby tooth, and then the ortho will close the gap so i will have 4 incisors at the end of the treatment
but the poor baby tooth is decaying under the gum an barely holding on now (im 26)
im worried he jus decides to fall off, its on my bottom jaw, dead center
i have a cleaning on friday an really worried the hygenist makes him pop out

#10 Post by **Jex** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:16 am

I never really thought about the idea of pulling it and having my molars moved up to take up the space. Interesting. I kind of wish a dentist would have suggested this when I was younger, and then I could be talking about this retrospectively! LOL

Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:53 pm

i was thinking about an implant as well, but when they did the xray, the adjacent roots were reall close, so the dentist didnt wanna risk grooving a root of a healthy tooth
the ortho gave me an option on pulling the teeth apart and creating room for the implant but since i had a couple crooked teeth i decided to jus get braces and close the spaces
i was most unhappy when i had to extract 2 upper premolars 2 weeks ago

#12 Post by **wendy1208** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:54 pm

I have one remaining "temporary" tooth (an incisor) that my ortho is working around. It has no bracket since its minimal root would not stand much if any movement. I know a woman in her 50s who still has one of her baby teeth so who knows how long it will last.
I did have an implant in 2007 to replace a molar that I lost partly due to my malocclusion. It was not something I'd do lightly but having been thru several root canals

given an OS I like, I would happily choose an implant again. I will definitely replace my incisor with an implant whenever it decides to leave me.
I would say the most painful part of my implant was paying for the 1/2 my insurance didn't cover.

#13 Post by **Neptune** » Fri May 09, 2008 4:43 pm

I still have two deciduous second premolars in my mouth. My orthodontist was against performing extractions for fear of significantly changing the shape of my face. Instead, he wants to shave the tooth such that it fits in order to proceed with my orthodontics work.

Has your ortho made a recommendation such as this?

#14 Post by **leftyme** » Sat May 10, 2008 9:01 pm

I still have a baby tooth too. I have insanely healthy teeth, not one cavity and my dentist and Orthodontist both agreed that there is no reason why I can't have that tooth for the rest of my life. I have no idea the name of which one it is, but it's bigger than the adult tooth on the other side. I too wish that I could have just had it extracted and the teeth behind moved to fill in the space. This wasn't an option because it would have been too much space to fill in. So we're working around it.

#15 Post by **Pixel Witch** » Sat May 10, 2008 9:53 pm

I have a baby canine. I do have an adult tooth, but it will stay where it is forever, which means that I will never see it.

My ortho doesn't like to pull unless a tooth absolutely needs to be gone, but he believes i should have an implant.

However, he also thinks i should hang on to my baby as long as i can and implant later so I don't have more financial obligations until I'm done paying off the braces.