11 Year Old Still Has 15 Babyteeth Left......

He was probably x-rayed once per year (every other visit) but you are with him every day. I have to take responsibility for my daughter's health and 15 baby teeth at this age or years before would have been a concern to me.

I thought and planned ahead though, my daughter had her palate expander and phase I of her orthodontics by 5th grade (10 years). Phase II done by age 13 and they are perfect....expensive but beautiful. It was a complete goal of mine for her to not enter high school with braces.

Good luck!!

not only can kids go thru this.....but so can dogs! It's a part of life, & is pretty common.

Couple of thoughts:
#1 just because you maintain regular visits, doesn't mean you are the only one in that practice to do so. This is a busy time of the year for drs & dentists....please don't feel you should be prioritized.
#2 if your child is in pain & the office cannot find an opening for you, then please seek treatment elsewhere.
#3 I worked in the dental field for several years prior to having our first child. To try to pull multiple teeth at one time is insane & pretty much should not be done. Most dentists prefer to work in quadrants.....one side or the other, & usually just top or bottom individually. For the top teeth, your child will require anesthetic around the tooth. For the lower teeth, the shot goes in at the back of the jaw....a "block" for that quadrant. Occasionally, dentist will do top/bottom, same side. But that's rare for children.
#4 most dentist prefer to play the "wait & see" game. My nephew went thru this, & greatly benefitted from it. I think only 4 teeth had to be surgically removed...at age 12. :)

I'm not sure "time sensitive" means it can't wait 3 weeks. This doesn't sound like an "emergency" - just that he has some discomfort and you shouldn't wait very long to get his teeth pulled. But that doesn't mean you have to pull them TODAY..... just that every month you wait the more crooked they will get. So, "you shouldn't wait" in Dentist lingo.... is the next available appointment.

My daughter had her adult teeth come in behind her baby teeth, so the baby teeth never got loose. She ended up having 3 pulled initially and then another 5 of them pulled at once - it was pretty easy actually - and in the end her adult teeth came in straight and she does not need braces.

15, however, seems like a LOT. But they can't always tell where teeth are going to come in.... so when you say you're frustrated that they didn't tell you this problem before... there may not have BEEN a problem BEFORE - but for some reason his teeth shifted and NOW there is a problem.

Are his baby teeth loose at all? If you can see on an x-ray that his adult teeth are coming in... then I would probably have as many of them pulled as you can. It will be easier for him in the long run.

Well it is back to school time so Physicians, Dentist, Optometrist are booked solid.

And yes, even seeing a Dentist every 6 months, they will assume the teeth will be falling out soon. And sometimes, these things take a while to be visible.

I suggest you book an appt for as soon as possible, but also maybe search for another Dentist that could work your son in, IF your insurance is able to do this.

Actually, I would have your Dentist go ahead and refer you all to Oral Surgeon.. They will be the ones to remove that many baby teeth at once.

Our daughter was in 4th grade when they realized, one of her front teeth was just not budging, but they noticed she had a group of tiny teeth packed in above that tooth! The Oral Surgeon told us this was not unusual, scheduled surgery removed that tooth and all of the tiny teeth. Within 2 weeks, the adult tooth was coming through..

Our dentist told us they had been keeping an eye on the baby tooth. but this x ray was the first time this problem had shown up..

Being a parent is full of surprises.. But we are like trees, we can bend.. Hang in there.

I still had baby teeth when I was 16, my kids don't even get teeth till late. My 12 year old has only lost a few of the front ones. In many cases they do fall out on their own, which is probably what the dentist figured would happen. In some rare cases they don't. Your son fell into the don't. No reason to be pissed, just deal with the issue.

The dentists would prefer that the adult teeth push out the baby teeth. This doesn't always work as planned and dentistry is an art, not a science.
See the orthodontist.
Do what they want. Do not pull 11 teeth all at once - that's just mean.
I had my teeth pulled during the school year when I was a kid and honestly, it was no big deal. They pulled 4 adult teeth - one at a time on 4 consecutive Friday afternoons. By Monday, I was back to normal.
Don't be upset with the dentist. She sees your kid once every 6 months. He had no issue until now. If I were you, I'd tell your kid to wiggle those teeth out of there.

If they thought it was an emergency they would have found a way to fit you in.
When they looked at the X-rays did they say if any of the roots on the baby teeth were dissolving? When the adult tooth is ready it begins to dissolve the root of the baby tooth naturally, this is how it falls out. I know that at several visits the dentist would point this out and say those were the next ones to come out, and they have been.
My oldest has had all but one of his adult teeth come in before the baby tooth came out. In every instance the dentist said to not waste our money on having them pull them, to just keep working at it. All of them came out on their own. Yeah, we had to work at it a lot more but they all came out. The adult tooth would come in a little funny but would quickly straighten out. He has a small cross bite but otherwise his teeth are fine. He's 12 and lost 9 maybe, I'd have to ask him LOL
There are way to many dentists that are out to fill their pockets with a lot of extra work that may not need to actually be done. I would ask for a bit more information first.

I had to have 6 baby teeth pulled for this reason, they did it 2 at a time though. I can't imagine having more than that done, it's not fun! Maybe a second opinion?

My youngest is like that - her baby teeth just don't want to come out on their own, and her adult teeth come up behind them, or under them and cause pain. I'm puzzled as to why your dentist didn't pick up on this sooner, and totally baffled as to why she'd suggest seeing an orthodontist to tell you which ones need to be removed. Umm, how about the ones with adult teeth coming in underneath?! The orthodontist (I can tell you from experience) will send you back to the dentist. Orthodontists will not pull teeth, not even really loose ones.

My suggestion is to ask around amongst your son's peer group and see what dentist everyone else goes to. I think missing something that big, and then not being able to see your son for 3 weeks, warrants a change in dentists. Yours is asleep at the wheel. For the record, when our orthodontist saw that one of my daughter's baby teeth was erupting behind a baby tooth, our dentist got her in the next day to pull the baby tooth - they seem to take this type of issue pretty seriously and treat it with some urgency. Good luck.

For that many teeth to be pulled at once, your son will likely need some form of sedation so it may not be possible to "squeeze him in". My daughter had two pulled at the same time and it took roughly 2.5 hours from start (oral sedation before the laughing gas) to finish (stitches). This also had to be done on an empty stomach so it was scheduled at 8 am. With all of the kids who need BTS dental checkups (it's the law in some areas), your dental practice may be booked solid for the next three weeks.
If you feel it is an emergency, go to another dental practice. Even a dental school. Be sure to bring the x-rays.

Ditto what Hell On Heels said regarding not being told about this any sooner. Has he not lost ANY of his baby teeth?

My daughter just turned 12, and last summer (around her 11th birthday) was when we scheduled her with the orthodontist. Mainly, b/c our older son needed some work done and they said we could schedule them both at the same time. They both have/had overbites that were enough that correction is needed. Daughter also has a history of screwy teeth. Shark teeth. Teeth not falling out easily. Teeth coming in sideways, etc.

She needed 4 teeth removed, and yes, the regular dentist is the one who pulled them. But the ortho is really the one who looks at the xrays into the gumline to see what is most important to deal with first. Then they will refer you back for having the actual removal done.

We happen to have a great relationship with our dentist, and they were able to get us in the very next day (to have 4 teeth pulled all at once... ouch!). It might've been a few weeks, like you mention, but our ortho told us it was important to get them out ASAP, and when we called our dentist, they were able to accommodate us. If we hadn't been able to come at the one opening they happened to have, it WOULD have been at least 2 weeks. (The office closes for at least a week annually to go to South America to do volunteer dentistry work).

I don't think your dentist is necessarily WAY off on the age, but more so the fact that your child hasn't been losing any teeth. Our daughter was losing teeth. Just not as frequently or "normally" as most people. She had had 4 shark teeth. And one of those baby teeth eventually just had to be pulled because it was NOT coming out and the permanent one was almost fully in and she couldn't clean well in between.

She had those 4 pulled last summer, lost 2 more on her own (on the very same day!) about 6 months ago, and hasn't lost any since. And none of the 4 that were pulled have the adult tooth grown in yet. We just had them xrayed this past week at the ortho, and they have dramatically shifted and hopefully will not cause any permanent problems. One is still on the iffy side, but we are hopeful. Teeth move. Even when they are grown in. It's why you'd need an implant if you lose a permanent tooth. Not because you can't live without it or eat without it, but because the space encourages the remaining ones to shift around and you need something there to keep things where they belong (and to keep the jawbone from deteriorating as well).

Good luck with your child.
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The thing is, regular dentists may xray your mouth (or your kid's mouth) once a year or whatever, but they are normally just taking bitewings. Those don't show the underlying structures, just the teeth and their roots. So they wouldn't see the permanent teeth beneath the roots of the baby teeth. They are not trying to (bitewings are not made to do that). An orthodontist, that is the first thing they do. Take panoramic xrays of the entire mouth structure.
Until your son complained, your dentist was likely unaware of any underlying problems, except that maybe your son wasn't loosing teeth at the normal rate. Which is why I say I'm surprised nothing was said about him not loosing many teeth. That would be a flag in my mind. But since your child is going to need to go to the orthodontist, they will wait and let the ortho take the panoramic xrays there, because they will retain them for comparison purposes later, to see how things are moving/changing and how to best treat whatever is going on as time progresses.

Regular dentists do not do the same things as orthodontists. Just like orthodontists and regular dentists don't do the same thing as oral surgeons. I'd bet you won't find a "dentist" who will do a tooth implant. It is a specialty. And orthodontics is also a type of specialty.

Does that help clear anything up?

Your 11 year old has only lost 5 baby teeth! I would have thought your dentist would have mentioned that he is way behind the average in regards to loosing teeth. I think I would find a new dentist but would definetely take her advice and go see an orthodontist for a consult. (Those appointments are free in my area). (My 10 yo only has 5 teeth left to loose and is starting with braces this coming week)

Change dentists!!! My son is 13 now and has had periodically had baby teeth removed because they were not falling out fast enough on their own. At his last check up he still was told he has one more that needs to come out by his next checkup or she will need to pull it to make room for the new one already trying to come in. He's already wiggled it enough that it fell out on its own. I would think a dentist who knows what they're doing and continuing X-rays to follow his development should have seen that coming. I have been to dentists myself though that have told me I needed lots of work done, only when getting a second opinion have I realized they were wrong and were only trying to make money for themselves. Dentists seem to be on every corner and you have to be careful to get an honest one.

My son goes to Frisco Dentistry for Kids and sees Dr Kelli. She's very good. You might try a second opinion??...

WOW! I had the very same first thought as you did when I started reading this....can't the dentist read an X-ray? The baby teeth didn't just appear out of nowhere, they were always there. They just now realized the baby teeth hadn't come out and the adult teeth are already coming in?

These baby teeth need to come out now, it's obvious they are damaging his permanent teeth. They could possibly wait a few months but if he's in pain now it's only going to get worse.

I would take him to a pediatric dentist that would do the work in an outpatient surgery center with him asleep. Maybe they could pull a few at a time to give the adult teeth a chance to erupt so he wouldn't be all gums for a month or two. It would have been good to do this at the beginning of summer right?

Poor kiddo, this should have been addressed when he was close to 8, 9 at the latest.