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Baby Teeth In Adulthood? 3 Treatment Options

28 December 2015

Edward Payne

What would you say if your dentist suddenly told you that you have a baby tooth and the adult tooth that was supposed to replace it is impacted and needs to be surgically removed? First of all, you would probably wonder how on Earth you or your parents didn't realize that you still have a baby tooth in your adulthood. Secondly, you would wonder if removing the baby tooth and the adult tooth would leave a gap in your row of pearly whites. Here are some possible answers to your questions. 

The mystery of baby teeth in adulthood 

Nearly everyone can remember when they were visited by the Tooth Fairy when they lost a tooth as a child. It's a milestone of childhood that shows that you are not a little kid anymore. Parents usually make a great effort to ensure that the Tooth Fairy is aware of the loss of the first tooth, especially. But then after losing a half a dozen or so teeth, the novelty of visits from the Tooth Fairy quickly dies out, sometimes to the point that children and parents lose track of baby teeth. 

While that may explain why you and your parents didn't realize that you still have a baby tooth, here are a few reasons that can cause it. 

• hypodontia: adult tooth didn't fully develop
• dental ankylosis: baby tooth got fused to the jaw bone

Your permanent tooth is in there, which means it is impacted. And even though you had no idea, it's a good idea to deal with the impacted tooth because it can cause a dentigerous cyst to form. While the cyst itself wouldn't be painful, it could get infected and/or cause your jawbone to fracture. Therefore, you'll want to have the impacted tooth removed before any problems develop. 

3 treatment options for impacted teeth 

Fortunately, here are several treatment options for your impacted tooth and the restoration of your baby tooth:

1. extract the impacted tooth and replace the baby tooth with a dental implant. This procedure will likely give you the quickest results because the dental implant can be surgically placed immediately after the impacted tooth and baby tooth are removed. In fact, according to a study published by the National Institutes of Health, all 10 implants placed in nine patients in one study were successful. This procedure can be done by an oral surgeon. 
2. extract the baby tooth, expose the impacted tooth, and use orthodontic braces and chains to slowly move the adult tooth into position. Depending on where the impacted tooth is located in the gums and/or roof of the mouth, this process can take some time and it looks a bit medieval. This type of treatment is done by an orthodontist. 
3. extract the impacted tooth and the baby tooth and apply a dental bridge to span the gap. The adjacent teeth will need to be prepared for the placement of the dental bridge, which would mean they would need to be reduced in size. Since it's a good idea to let your gums heal before you have a bridge placed on the area, especially if your oral surgeon gives you stitches, this option will require several visits to the dental chair. An oral surgeon or a cosmetic dentist can perform the procedures for this option. 

Since each of these procedures could be done by a different type of dental specialist, it's a good idea to get several opinions and referrals from general dentists. Even though you'll get several opinions, you'll only need one CBCT scan (or C-arm scan) for imaging. Ask for a digital copy of the scan for ease. That way, you can take it with you to the various appointments when you get additional opinions. For more information, contact a business such as Oral Surgery Center.

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