I have not had my baby teeth come out on their own that are canines. Last year I had one pulled and I was relieved that there was the adult tooth behind it that was close enough to not look too weird but that was on one of my bottom canines. I need to take care of the rest, but am worried about there being a gap. I’m 16 and am about to start back to school soon, but I don’t want to look really weird when I go back. If I take them out and there aren’t teeth there than I need to fix that. Can I get dental implants to fix this?
Ellie
Dear Ellie,
I’m glad you wrote. I wanted to ask if you’ve been under the care of a pediatric dentist recently? This is a common situation that your dentist should have helped you to prevent. The first thing that will need to happen is for you to find out if you actually have adult teeth coming in. If you do, then you won’t need to replace the tooth. There will be tooth roots there so no room for something like implants. Instead, you can have the teeth removed. Most of the time this is from impacted teeth. An orthodontist can help guide these into the their right place.
If there are no adult teeth to come in, this is known as congenitally missing teeth and it does happen. In that case, you will want to replace them. I would wait on the dental implants until your jaw is fully developed. You’ll need to be at least 18 for that to be safe. However, that does not mean that you can’t get a false tooth there to keep your smile attractive until then. My suggestion is that you get a dental flipper in that case. They’re not very expensive and will do nicely until your jaw is ready for a permanent replacement.
If you end up needing replacements, be careful who does your dental implants. This is a very advanced procedure with serious consequences if it is done wrong. Definitely don’t pick your dentist for this based on price. Post-doctoral training is absolutely essential for this. The safest option will be to use someone who is a fellow with the International Congress of Oral Implantologists (ICOI). These have the training and proven experience to give you the best care possible.
This blog is brought to you by Decatur, AL Dentists Drs. Drake and Wallace.