I STILL HAVE MY BABY TOOTH AS AN ADULT

I bet you didn't know that five percent of adults are congenitally missing one or more permanent teeth.  So this condition is not as rare as one might think.  In my practice it is very prevalent; I see it all the time.  The causes of this phenomenon vary; however, there is a strong genetic predisposition to congenitally missing teeth.  I see patterns of this condition from parents to children and on down to their grandparents.

In most cases the baby tooth can stay anchored in your jaw decades longer than it was designed for.  I have patients in their sixties and seventies that still have functioning baby teeth!!!  Many individuals, however, lose their baby teeth as an adult much earlier in their lives.  This is due to poor hygiene practices.  Poor hygiene soon leads to large fillings in these teeth and they soon disintegrate or become loose.  The bottom line:  REMEMBER TO BRUSH AND FLOSS THIS TOOTH faithfully, as the enamel in a baby tooth is thinner and weaker than that of a permanent tooth.

If you do lose your primary tooth it is usually replaced with a dental implant and crown or a bridge, which is permanently anchored to the two teeth adjacent to the lost primary tooth space.