Impact Of Early Loss Of Baby Teeth

Keeping your child’s baby teeth healthy in place until they are ready to fall out naturally is an important stage for a lifetime of good oral health. Baby teeth are necessary for a child to foster good nutrition through proper chewing. They also aid in speech development.

Normal tooth loss begins around age 6 for most children and is complete by about age 12. The roots of baby teeth break down through a process called resorption as the permanent teeth push against them. A lost baby tooth is replaced by its permanent counterpart over the course of 2 to 3 months interval. The baby teeth serve as space holders for the adult teeth by remaining in place until the adult teeth are ready to erupt.

The baby tooth can be extracted, either planned by the dentist when a tooth is severely decayed and cannot be saved by a dental restoration or decided by the parent who doesn’t believe in treating a baby tooth that will eventually fall out!

If baby teeth is lost prematurely, if they are not lost in the correct order, or if a baby tooth is lost and is not replaced by a permanent one within three months, there could be a number of issues and an orthodontist in these situations is needed to determine if interceptive treatment is necessary to prevent more complicated orthodontic challenges later in childhood.

The consequences which can occur if a baby toot is lost before the real time, which is different for very child, are

• Closing space needed for the permanent tooth generated by the movement of the right and left teeth surrounding the site of the extraction, leading the permanent tooth to appear later than expected and in different position.
• Loss of the dental arch length which leaves less space for the proper eruption of permanent teeth and consequently causes crowding.
• Disruption of the relationship between molars and canines.
• Shift of the midline towards the site of the extraction
• Alteration in the overbite and overjet of teeth
• Emotional and aesthetic problems.
• Elongation of the opposite tooth which will not find the contralateral tooth to stop its evolution.

To avoid such us problems, a regular check-up with your family dentist is very important, It is always best to have a simple restoration when a decay start than extract the baby tooth, when the extraction is advised it is mandatory to out a space maintainer to keep the space for the permanent tooth.