Missing Permanent Teeth. Part 2 - Spokane,WA

K., I'm sorry about this! It's tough to know what to do because few kids seem to experience it. My daughter, now 10, is missing one permanent tooth, which we know from the X-rays; she has a baby tooth in that space now and the ortho and dentist (who work well together for us) say, leave the baby tooth alone and we'll deal with the gap much later -- for girls, the ortho says, they don't do implants until quite late, even later teen years.

What does your son's dentist say about the orthodontist's insistence on pulling teeth? I would bet the dentist will be against it. Does your orthodontist share information, x-rays and diagnoses with your dentist? Ours does and it's a big help.

I'd definitely get a second or third opinion from other orthodontists. Around here, orthos. give free consultations for new patients; you can check with a couple and tell them you would like a consultation on this particular issue and it might be a free visit....In the end, the doctors are the experts, but I do wonder at this eagerness to yank so many teeth at once in a kid this age. We saw one ortho who wanted to start yanking my daughter's teeth because some were going to come in funny, but ended up going with the ortho who said no, we can fix that without pulling teeth....

Do not let them pull ANY teeth. They did this to me and then my parents divorced and we could not afford the implants. The only noticable gaps in my teeth are from where they pulled them out! Like I said before, I still have most of my baby teeth at 29 and they are not in bad condition. Let them wait until he is ready to get the procedure.

Don't do it. That is my opinion. I have this issue although no one ever gave me a name for it. I have only two adult molar teeth (my wisdom teeth, one which just grew in and was removed and another that has not come in yet) I am almost 27 and still have all of my baby molar teeth. The only teeth I ever lost and grew in were the four middle on top and on bottom! Anyhow my baby molars are hanging in just fine, I was also not born with my 2yr molars on (baby) I think all in all I am missing 10 teeth. Anyhow Yes I have had to get fillings but really no more then a typical person. I do have one baby tooth that was wrecked by a novice dentist and if i have another cavity in it they will just have to remove it. But so far it is just the one that is on the chopping block!!! LOL anyhow I have made it just fine. Later in life when they start to get on the road to being bad I will have them pulled and either bridges in or implants, whatever I choose. and well maybe I will need dentures by then :)

So from experience i would say he will be just fine without doing anything aggressive. Keep them clean and wait.

I should also say no dentist has pushed me to do anything drastic with my teeth as they are in ok condition.

I think I would get an opinion from the ortho and another dentist.
In situations where I am really clueless I do tend to trust the experts.
I can't see any reason why to take them but they may have knowledge I don't. Like will bit be detrimental to his jaw growth? Will he have any TMJ issues, which my hubby has, and he is missing 5 permanent teeth.
Ultimately I think this one is your decision.
Good luck

Margo's deal is similar to my son's - tho not as many teeth! Dentist has left the baby teeth alone so as not to wreck the spacing of the other teeth. Just gets checked like usual at dental visits. Oh, and he's 21!

(also know son - nor any of my kids - will have wisdom teeth - a good thing since most are pulled ... funny that me and my own sibs don't have them either!)