Dear Moms, previously I've asked about pediatric dentures for my now 2.5 years old son when he got one of his upper front tooth pulled after an injury. Today he got the other upper front tooth pulled after he re-injured it yesterday. Now he's missing both of his upper front incisors. He is delayed in language and the permanent teeth won't come out in another 4-5 years. That's too long a time. Is this going to impede his language development? Do you think the denture is necessary for him now that he missed both teeth??? I feel horrible and don't know what to do. Thank you!!!
First, thanks ladys for the input! Actually my son started with the early intervention program when he was 18 months old. This is just another bump on the road. I talked to his speech therapist, she seemed to be as confused as I am as to whether missing the two front teeth will impede speech or not. But he will definitly have problems with the "th" and "v" sound. The therapist does say she had a cousin that lost both front teeth young and later has some "slurs" in his speech. I then called my pediatric dentist. She does not recommend the dental partial at all. She said it would not impede his speech or eating. And putting in the partial will require sedation on multiple occassions at his age.
It seemed that there is no definitive study on this topic. Parents and doctors all hold different views. Eventually, we have to make our own decision as to what's best for my son. For now, the speech therapist will monitor my son's speech and see how things go. If problems arises, we will address them. The dentist said pretty much the same thing.
Although from a selfish point of view, I cannot wait to get his teeth back, fake or not. But now we will have to wait and see.
No, my daughter fell and both of her teeth come out at about 3 years old, she is now 22 years old and graduating college and has had no problem with her speech.
I got my 2 front teeth knocked out when I was 2 yrs old. Apart from singing "All lI want for Chrsitmas is My Two Front Teeth" for almost a decade waiting for them to grow back in, I had no speech delays, or pronunciation problems. I did need braces when I was older, but that could just be a coincidence. It'll be fine! He will be the big boy on campus when he goes to kindergarten - at that age, losing your teeth is considered "cool" ;) - Take care!
T.,
If he is aleardy language delayed, then you should ask your speech therapist what they think. If he is not already in both public and private therapy services, you should get going on accessing them. He has another 6 months that he can have public EI services, and it could take almost all that time just to get evaluated, so get moving on that if you have not already. At age 3, he is eleigible for services through your local school district.
Don't depend on just public services, they are only obligated to make him functional, and you want more than that. Call a private therapist and have an evaluation and start therapy if you are not doing this already. They will know what his prognosis is without the front teeth, and will guide you on your next step!
Don't take any chances with speech and language at this age, find out for sure, sooner, rather than later!
M.
I would not put any type of "denture" in his mouth. Language develops
with or without front teeth. Speech may be affected slightly, but I would
not be concerned.
He'll be fine. He's little. He'll look cute for years. He's healthy, active, sprightly. Be thankful!
I would talk to your pediatric dentist, but I feel that yes, he should have some type of denture. This will not only help 'hold the space' for his permanent teeth, but will help him in eating and talking.
M.
My son who is now 7 had his 4 top front teeth removed when he was 2. He had a few speech problems but not bad he has had speech therapy in school and is doing great. I don't think you will need dentures just maybe a little therapy thru the school in later years.
.
Hi
Sorry about the trouble he is having.
I am assuming that you have a pediatric dentist and have asked him what the procedure is now, and what to do. If not start there.
The other thing I would say would be to talk to the pediatrician and see what they say. The MD will help with what to do about language delay. Then speech teachers know what is up next and who to talk to
Talk and talk some more til you are satisfied with the answers
My son Alan lost 4 bottom teeth at age 9 months and the top front teeth by age 3 1/2 as an after affect of the original fall. He was speech delayed He never did get dentures - but he did receive wonderful help from our school district in a special ed preschool program - and was discharged from special ed before starting kindergarten. No one correlated the speech issue to the missing teeth.
Now he's 7 1/2 - and has all the teeth back in except for 1/2 a top tooth. I recently had him reevaulated for speech and they felt he didn't need help (he has a slight lisp which has faded as the top teeth came in). He may need braces when he's older but that may be heriditary and not related to the missing teeth.
I cared for a child who lost both upper front teeth at 15 months and her speech was never delayed nor did the missing teeth impede her in any way. I don't think I would go with the denture as that might impact speech and mouth growth in other ways. I would however speak to your pediatirician about getting him evaluated for help with language, if the delay is significant. Good luck!
This is a very good question!! I have a degree in Child Development & psychology and here's what I can tell you....Speech is a two-stage process. It is similar to the distinction between language (computer program) and speech (printer). When we want to communicate something, the first stage is to encode the message into a set of words and sentence structures that convey our meaning. These processes are collectively what we refer to as "language". In the second stage, language is translated into motor commands that control the articulators, thereby creating speech. Speech refers to the actual process of making sounds, using such organs and structures as the lungs, vocal cords, mouth, tongue, teeth, etc. Teeth are an important part of articulating the right sounds and without them, for such a long time period, speech probably wouldn't be delayed but can be impeded. Especially correct pronunciation. Don't feel horrible, you didn't ask for your son's teeth to be injured. get all the information you can. Ask a pediatric dentist or your pediatrician what they think about a temporary denture or ask them to refer you to a speech pathologist for their opinion. It's what I would do if I was in your shoes and also thinking from a developmental standpoint.
I am not aware of any significant speech problem that will occur with not replacing the front incisors at this age. The appliance if placed is not a removable denture, but a fixed space maintainer that is attached by metal bands that surround that back molars and joined by a loop of wire that hugs near the roof of the mouth, which has two plactic teeth attached to it replacing the missing two baby teeth.
Hi
I've talked to my daughter's pediatric dentist about the very same concerns. My daughter injured her top two front teeth just weeks after they came in (she got teeth late, around 16 months of age) and eventually had one pulled. We are still trying to determine whether the other tooth will need to come out too. She's 2 1/2 too.
Her dentist said that only about 2 in 100 kids who are missing those teeth will have speech issues. He also said that the replacement teeth are cosmetic only, they cost around $800 - $1000 and most insurances don't cover them. The cosmetic teeth are basically glued and wired in and don't prevent the other teeth from shifting. With only one tooth missing the teeth shift into the empty space, having both teeth gone actually keeps the other teeth from shifting.
I understand how you feel, I too feel awful about my daughter's injury and missing tooth. She however doesn't seem to notice and it doesn't bother her. I decided that the cosmetic teeth aren't necessary for her since it only bothers me and offers no medical/dental benefit.
Best wishes in making the decision which is right for your son.
My daughter was about two when she knocked her front tooth clean out and damaged the two on either side. Luckily the ones on the sides recovered. She is 3 1/2 now and has absolutely no problems speaking. Not that my daughters ever have! Holy where's the muzzle that's supposed to come with this kid!? If there is a speech issue my guess is it is unrelated and the missing teeth won't add to it. I'm no expert, but that has been my personal experience. Also our ped. dentist said as well that the denture is purely cosmetic and does not benefit the tooth structure or ability to eat. I can tell you my daughter has not had any self-conscious issues with her tooth missing. To her it is no big deal.
