My son won't loose his teeth

[CarrieIL]

He's almost 7 and refuses to let me know when he has loose teeth, won't pull them himself and this last tooth he let stay in until the adult tooth came out behind it, no it's pointing back into his mouth and sideways.  

Both of his top front teeth are loose, I got that out of him the other day, but he won't let me look at them, won't wiggle them to loosen them more .  He confided in his brother that the adult teeth are behind the the baby teeth.  ARRRGGGHHH  He's going to make it so that he has to have braces, and I've tried to explain this to him .  

What can I do to convince him that he has to lose the teeth - I've thought about being really proactive and showing him pictures of people with really nasty teeth online to scare him into letting them come out.  I hate to take him to the dentist just to have teeth pulled.

WWYD?

[CarrieIL]

there is no edit - I hate that my title is mispelled

[Ania778]

I don't understand how not pulling a baby tooth out means you get crooked teeth growing.  I would not worry about it and leave him to it.   Nobody ever tried to make me take my baby teeth out.  I think I would have protested too if they had tried.   Baby teeth tend to come out on their own if you bite into something hard.  

[April2]

Some kids are just late losing their baby teeth. I'd just leave it alone and let it happen natually. I actually had a dentist tell me NOT to pull baby teeth because it can damage or cause trauma to the gum. I'd run too if I were him! It hurts to pull the teeth.
It's not going to affect if he'll have braces or not, either. Now, if he was a thumb sucker for a long time, that's a different story....

[love1221]

It isn't good for him to have the permanent teeth coming in behind the baby teeth though.  You may try to explain to him that if he doesn't let you wiggle them, then he will have to go to the dentist and let the dentist wiggle them out.  

[CarrieIL]

I guess what I've tried to say is that his bottom tooth staying in so long, made the permanent tooth come in totally sideways because he wouldn't pull it himself - let me do it or anything.  I'm afraid if he keeps on with this, he's going to have a mess of crooked teeth.

[CarrieIL]

Good lord, when it rains, it pours!  The child rubbed his mouth and a tooth fell out in the parking lot at walmart - we went to the bathroom to clean him up and stop him from screaming bloody murder, while I was wiping his mouth, the one right next it fell out!!  THEN we stopped to get him a treat, for finally calming down - and a bottom one fell out!  

There are teeth out and terribly crooked and one is almost lying done behind every one of the teeth that fell out.  
I could just scream!

[kblue2000]

Whoaaaa!

Just because he isn't telling you that his teeth were loose is not the cause of his adult teeth coming in behind the baby ones. This is actually a verrrry common occurrence in children. Just google it. Try "adult teeth coming in behind" and see what you get. ALL of our daughter's front teeth were like this. The adult tooth came in behind the baby tooth, sometimes before the baby tooth was even wiggly.

If your son's adult teeth were coming in where they should...directly under the baby tooth, this would have forced the baby tooth out...not the other way around. The presence of the baby tooth isn't going to change where the adult one comes up.

Our dentist told us that family history plays a huge role. If the child's mouth is small and the teeth are large, this can easily happen. In my daughter's class more than half of the kids had baby teeth coming in behind adult ones.

Anyway, other than one tooth, they all moved into their proper positions eventually with her natural tongue movement. Only one tooth is slightly..and I say slightly out of place. You'd never know her teeth came in the way they did. The one tooth that is slightly off was the one where the baby tooth never even got wiggly first. The dentist ended up extracting it under anesthesia for her so the adult one could move into place.

Please stop making your little boy feel badly about his teeth. He has no control over the way they come in. I'd scream too if I thought I had a mouthful of ugly monster teeth.
And if he has to have braces down the line, so what? Our son may have to have them to correct a slight overbite..it's not the end of the world. You have a healthy child don't you?
Put things into perspective and be kind to him. Losing teeth can be very traumatic for some kids. Don't set him up to be freaked out about his teeth or you will have serious problems down the line.

[love1221]

I wasn't saying that you should try to get him freaked out about his teeth.  But, if the teeth are loose enough to come out and he refuses to let someone pull them out they can cause problems.  If the teeth are loose, then the gums are also loose.  When the gums are loose it lets more bacteria get down into the area and could cause the permanent teeth to get cavities before they are even completely erupted.  I think you were right in being concerned about it.  Just because you're concerned about braces doesn't mean that you're ungrateful...or doesn't take away from the fact that you're appreciative that you're child is healthy.

[CarrieIL]

"Please stop making your little boy feel badly about his teeth. He has no control over the way they come in. I'd scream too if I thought I had a mouthful of ugly monster teeth.
And if he has to have braces down the line, so what? Our son may have to have them to correct a slight overbite..it's not the end of the world. You have a healthy child don't you?
Put things into perspective and be kind to him. Losing teeth can be very traumatic for some kids. Don't set him up to be freaked out about his teeth or you will have serious problems down the line."

Where do you come off telling me to "stop making your little boy feel badly about his teeth", where did you get that I was telling him he had ugly monster teeth?????  

YOU need to get a grip.  He needs to know that by not telling me about dental or any health matters for that matter, that he can cause worse problems.  I need to know about these things.    I would NEVER tell my child he had ugly ANYTHING.

I can see it was a mistake coming here to ask a question.

[love1221]

I hope you don't feel like it was a mistake coming here.  I think you're totally right to be concerned!  And I'm sorry that you were made to feel like you were a bad parent.  Hopefully any questions you have in the future can be answered without making you feel awful.

[sunnyazmom]

I just saw your post and thought I might be able to help.  I have been a Pediatric Dental Asst. for about ten years.  It is very common for permanent teeth to come in behind the baby teeth and it really has more to do with lack of space or crowding due to the size of the jaw. Most of the time the tongue will naturally help to push the permanent teeth  forward into place once the baby teeth come out.  When a baby tooth is loose the gum around the tooth can get a little red or inflamed, but I have never seen a tooth come in with a cavity because of a retained baby tooth. The permanent teeth actually have a protective membrane that surrounds them before they come in. However once the tooth is erupted it is susceptible to decay.  

On a personal note I understand your frustration, my little girl hates to wiggle her teeth too.  Her bottom teeth came in the same way and they are in great position now... in fact her only tooth that is not is a good position is the one that came out a little early when she bumped heads with our springer spaniel. I am hoping as she matures and gets older it won't be so hard for her.  Just give him lots of encouragement.  They will all come out eventually.  Hope that helps...