One for the Dentist - Missing & Small teeth

timeou

Hi,

1st post as I'm a little concerned about my son who is 11

My son started having problems when around age 6 or 7 his baby teeth did't start to become loose or fall out. Dental X Rays showed that he is missing 2 permanent teeth in the upper jaw and 3 missing in the bottom jaw. They call this Hypodontia. He is under the local dental hospital and they see him every 6 months. Yesterday we went and they say that he also has microdontia as the permanent teeth that are coming through are small.

Now, he doesn't have any other developmental problems to our knowledge - he seems to be growing nice and tall and mentally developing absolutely normally although he's very slim! I made the mistake of googling the problems and it seems that it can be linked to developmental problems and low growth and hormone deficiency etc possibly leading to problems developing into an adult?...

So, I'm quite worried now - should I follow this up with our GP for blood tests to check hormone levels?

Is this Hypodontia and Microdontia really uncommon? Starting to worry now...

Pthree

I'm 37 and I still have some baby teeth in the bottom set left side as I didn't have a 2nd set, I didnt know the condition had a name until now!

I am grew up pretty normal....... well I think I did!!!

turtlemoose

I've got 4 adult teeth missing (and have never existed), and still have the 4 baby teeth they should have replaced. I also don't have any wisdom teeth (again they were never there). It gets commented on in an "ooh that's interesting" way every time I get a new dentist, but apart from that it's not been said to me to be a bad thing, and I have no other issues. In my own experience it's unusual, but not anything I've had to worry about, and no dentist has ever suggested its an issue.

In fact, I was told by more than one dentist if my wisdom teeth had existed, they would all have to be removed anyway (not enough space) so its actually a good thing for me!!

skipsmum

DS is 12 and has hypodontia - no adult front top teeth and no back teeth waiting to come through. He is also tall and slim, but has bone and cartilage problems. I doubt the two are linked but you can always have a chat with your GP to put your mind at rest.

brook2jack

Have seen hundreds of people with hypodontia and microdontia. None has ever had developmental problems/hormonal problems other than those that were really obvious and spotted as a baby the dental problems being the least of their worries.

The vast majority of people it is as another poster put it an interesting thing that a dentist spots and of no significance. It often runs in families and has for most people no significance.

It can be an incidental finding in people with several syndromes but the health problems from these syndromes would be very obvious before now.Don't worry this is a common problem but made worse by "googleitis."

timeou

Oh thank you all for your replies, they have put my mind at rest. Yes, surely I would have thought that if ds had any other developmental problems by now we would have noticed but yes, 'googleitis' did start to worry me!

My nan, father and brother all had a problem with their teeth where their 'eye' teeth grew in up high in the gum under the nose and had to be removed - I wonder if this is linked in any way?

Maybe it's just 'one of those things' and I guess that seeing as he's under the care of the dental hospital in our capital he should have the best care in ensuring a nice smile once he's an adult as they say they can either use a brace to bring the gaps closed or use implants if the worse comes to the worse

Thank you all x.

brook2jack

Just be warned nhs funding for implants is by no means guaranteed and is normally limited to those with at least 6 teeth missing and even those people are not guaranteed and subject to pct funding.

Implants at today's prices cost £2000 a tooth and are not normally placed until a person is older than 18. So start a saving scheme now for the possibility the nhs won't fund implants, and if they are funded it could be used for something more fun.

Toothsmith

The fact they are monitoring him though means that he will be referred when appropriate for orthodontics (braces) which can do an awful lot of good just on their own at moving things around into a perfectly acceptable aesthetic result. Or a combinatin of orthodontics and restorative options with things like minimally invasive adhesive bridges - which again can give very good results.

I can't say here and now what would be best for your son, as I can't see him, or predict how he will grow - but let the people looking after him do their job - and resist the urge to google as much as possible - and I'm sure things will be fine, and you'll be able to marry him off in the end!

Pthree

On a personal note and as there seem to be a few dentists on this thread i also had a brace for a few a good years, after fixed brace came off a removable night one. As soon as I was ttold to stop using it, I did being a 16 yr old vain girl but within 3 months my teeth went almost back to where they were by which time I was working and had to pay huge amounts of ££ which at the time I couldnt afford, is there any connnection between not having any second teeth or was I unlucky??

Not only did my brace ruin my teens (and my teeth, bloke that took it off left all the cement on which various dentists have tried to remove since with little sucess) but now they want over 6K to sort out :-( any connection?

anguk

My daughter had an xray when she was about 9 and the dentist noticed she had missing adult teeth. We were referred to the local dental hospital and they removed some of her baby teeth so that the adult teeth she did have would easily come down and spread and fill the gaps a bit.

When she was in her teens the dental hospital fitted braces to straighten her teeth and close the gaps, also her two eye teeth were quite small so they fitted crowns on them. She's just had her braces removed on Monday after 3 and a half years and her teeth are beautiful.

Just to add my daughter is now 18 and has no health or development problems.

brook2jack

Pthree the only connection is not wearing your retainer. Retainers need to be worn for life otherwise teeth will move.

Fitting a brace second time round to correct relapsed treatment is never as easy and you are an adult so teeth move slower and need to be held for a longer time. You are looking at visits every six weeks or so for maybe two years, or if you are looking at braces such as invisilign you are looking at braces where the laboratory costs alone for top and bottom braces start at £2000 and sharply increase for complex cases.

Don't even think about braces again unless you are prepared to have retainers and wear them for life at night (or for some people have them glued to the back of the teeth).