Loose Baby Tooth

Updated on December 23, 2011
K.J. asks from Yale, IL
8 answers

My son has a loose baby tooth and his permanent tooth is coming in from behind it so i wondered if he pulls out his loose tooth willl he have two permanent teeth in the same place?

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K.N.

answers from Cleveland on

I just want to repeat what wickerparkgirl said. Both my older boys are likely going to have several teeth pulled because the dentist is worried about the amount of food and bacteria getting trapped behind the baby teeth that can cause damage to the adult teeth coming in. Get wiggling (they gave my oldest 6 months because he's looking at about 14 baby teeth that gotta go (he's almost 13 though and they should be long gone anyways) and they gave my 11 year old about a month to get two out.

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W..

answers from Chicago on

The one tooth is probably just coming in behind the baby tooth. He probably has a smaller than average mouth (not based on backtalk...lol) and so the permanent tooth grew straight down instead of at an angle. Once the baby tooth is out the other teeth will shift and the permanent tooth will move into place.

This happened to my daughter with a couple of her teeth.

Here's the only thing you need to watch for.... you need to be really proactive about your son wiggling his baby tooth. Since the tooth didn't grow on top of the baby tooth, it didn't grind down the root. So, he is, in effect, loosing his baby tooth LATER than he would have had the permanent tooth come in where it should. There will be a period of time where the permanent tooth has broken through the gum and is about 1/2 way in, but the baby tooth isn't all that loose. Food can get trapped in between the two teeth and he can wind up with a cavity on the front side of the permanent tooth. So he needs to brush really well and try to get the bristles of the brush in between the two teeth. You can also floss this area for him.

He needs to get the baby tooth out asap. have him wiggle it as much as you can every night. Not only back and forth but also side to side and in a twisty motion. The faster he can pull it the better. Try not to let more than a couple months go by where there are BOTH teeth in place.

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

This is a question for the dentist. And even a dentist wouldn't know until he's done an exam. I would ask the dentist if you need to get the baby tooth out now. I'm not so sure the new tooth will naturally move into place. I've seen many people with teeth that are not in the right place.

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☆.A.

answers from Pittsburgh on

This is called "shark teeth" when the permanent tooth comes in behind the baby tooth. It's very common. Once her permanent tooth comes in, the baby tooth will come out. Tell her to keep wiggling it as much as she can. From what our dentist told us, it's really ever an issue if it's the top teeth, which is a lot less common than the bottom teeth being behind. Once the baby tooth is out, the permanent tooth usually moves forward to the correct position.
Personally, the whole baby tooth thing creeps me out! LOL

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K.A.

answers from San Diego on

Of the 8 teeth my son has lost so far I think only 1 or 2 did not have the adult tooth in, in some cases by quite a lot. I called his dentist and asked the first time and they said it's not a problem, to just keep wiggling and the baby tooth will come out. He had a couple loose with the adult tooth behind one and in front of the other side by side when he went in for a cleaning and they said to just save our money, it wasn't worth pulling then, the baby tooth will come out.
It took a little more wiggling and stuff than without the tooth already there but every single one came out and all of his adult teeth moved into place where they belong.
He just had one of those panoramic xrays done at his last apt to make sure everything was OK and to see if there might be a need for braces and we were told everything looked fine.

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B.K.

answers from Detroit on

My daughter had the same thing...I was worried her adult tooth would grown in crooked, so I took her to the dentist and he assured me it would move into the correct position BUT you'll need to really work at wiggling it to loosen it more since the adult tooth isn't directly under it pushing it out!

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L.L.

answers from Rochester on

No, he will not have two permanent teeth. The permanent tooth is coming through because it's ready, and the baby tooth needs to go. Wiggle wiggle!

J.F.

answers from Cleveland on

This happened to my daughter and her permanent tooth was permanently out of place because of it. We had it orthodontically (sp??) fixed when she was a late teen. It looked really 'bad' and she was very self-conscious of it. In hindsight I should have taken her to a dentist at the time and had the baby tooth taken out (she/we couldn't wiggle it out) at that time and then the permanent tooth probably would have went into the correct place.

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