Just Found Out Some Of Your Teeth Did Not Develop At All: What Now?

It is not easy for a layperson to determine if all their teeth or their children’s teeth have erupted. Most people are not even aware that they should keep an eye out for such a thing. After all, doesn’t everyone get all their teeth sooner or later?

Surprisingly not. Having a missing tooth because it just did not develop in the first place is surprisingly common. The most commonly affected tooth is the third molar or the wisdom tooth. These are technically a part of the 32 teeth that we count as being a complete set, however, they seem to be evolutionary remnants from a time when humans used to have much larger jaws and ate a predominantly raw diet.

There is no need for them any more in the mouth and not having them is actually a blessing. The problem arises when other teeth, such as the lateral incisor (the small tooth on either side of the front two teeth), the canine, or one of the premolars are missing. These are important teeth that serve a particular purpose in the arch.

Some of the problems caused by missing teeth include an unnatural and unaesthetic appearance, shift in the position of the other teeth, a reduction in the level of jaw bone development where the tooth should have been, spacing, speech problems and even difficulty in eating.

Why Do Some Teeth Never Develop At All?

The answer to this question lies in genetic inheritance. Some genes have been associated with the absence of one or more teeth. In fact, it has been noted that people will almost always have more than one tooth missing in their arch even if they were not aware of the fact.

In some cases, the primary tooth may not develop at all and thus the permanent successor also goes missing or in others, it may be limited to the absence of the permanent tooth.

Injury, infection and other such reasons may be responsible for damaging a tooth or causing an absence of eruption, however, they will not make the tooth disappear altogether.      

Treatment Of Missing Teeth

Teeth which are genetically missing and thus have not developed at all require a different line of treatment than teeth that have been extracted. This is because it is almost certain that when the patients come in for treatment, there will be no available space for a tooth to be replaced.

READ Dental Implants as a Solution to Missing Teeth

It is the natural tendency of all teeth to shift towards the centre and thus all the teeth behind the missing ones move in to fill up the space of the absent tooth.

Doctors will base the treatment plan on the missing tooth whether it is in the front of the jaw or the back of the jaw, the economic resources available to the patient, the age of the patient and the other complications that have developed as a result of the tooth being absent.

The good thing though is that a number of treatment plans are available to patients with missing teeth which provide an acceptable solution.

Treatment Options For Genetically Absent Teeth

Orthodontic Treatment

Braces will form the first part of the treatment and should result in a correction of any malocclusion that has developed between the teeth. By the end of the treatment, all the teeth should have moved into their position and space where the teeth are missing should now be vacant.

Once this has been achieved, the doctor can choose how to replace the teeth using the available space.

Temporary Removable Partial Denture                                     

Once space has been created it must be maintained until a permanent solution can be put in place. In the case of children, that permanent answer will have to wait till they are at least 18 years old or whenever their growth spurts are over.

A partial denture will provide a solution that will maintain the space and help in the patient getting used to the new aesthetics of their smile. The disadvantage of this method is that the prosthesis is not fixed and so must be removed every night and then put in again next morning.

It also moves around during eating and talking, causing discomfort to the patient.

Dental Implants

Once the patient is of age the best way to close the space permanently is through the use of dental implants. The treatment with dental implants has the advantage of avoiding any deliberate sacrifice of healthy tooth structure and also stimulates the underlying bone in a manner similar to the natural teeth.

The success of the treatment is very high and if taken care of they remain in the mouth without causing any trouble for decades. The high cost of the treatment is a potential downside of the treatment.

Bridges

If the patients cannot afford dental implants, which could be the case when multiple teeth are missing, then a fixed prosthesis using the supporting teeth, in other words a bridge, is a good option.

The patient may have to undergo an intentional root canal treatment if the supporting teeth develop sensitivity or pain after tooth preparation. Bridges last a long time, especially since an improvement in material sciences have made them much stronger than ever before.  The success of the prosthesis depends on upon the health of the supporting teeth.

READ What Will Happen If You Do Not Replace A Missing Tooth?

Prosthetic Correction

Sometimes if space is limited and even orthodontic correction would not be able to achieve the required amount of space, an innovative solution can be tried. All the teeth are arranged through orthodontic correction, closing all spaces.

The front teeth, which would look odd in this state, can then be corrected using a combination of veneers or crowns. The end result would be an aesthetic smile with the appearance of all teeth.

Conclusion

The treatment of genetically missing teeth is a long and often expensive proposition. The nature of the problem is such that it is almost always detected later than is ideal and then requires a series of treatments to bring the entire jaw back into harmony.