eye teeth

[Julia 10]

Hello

My 13 year old sons milk teeth have all fallen out and are replaced by his adult teeth, except for his eye teeth. They are still present and not loose. I am a little concerned as compared to children his age it seems delayed. Do I need to take him to see his dentist?

[Dr Ehsan J. Esfahani]

Hello Julia,

Thank you for your post. The maxillary cuspid teeth are normally the last of the front teeth to erupt into place. They usually come into place around age 13 and they cause any space left between the upper front teeth to close tight together. 60% of impacted eye teeth are located on the roof of the mouth side of the dental arch. The remaining impacted eye teeth are found in the middle of the supporting bone but stuck in a higher position above the roots of the adjacent teeth or out to the cheek side of the dental arch.

Early recognition of impacted eye teeth is the key to successful treatment so you should take him to see the dentist as soon as possible. The older the patient is, the more likely an impacted eye tooth will not erupt by nature’s forces alone even if space is available for the tooth to fit in the arch.

Cases where the eye teeth will not erupt naturally, the orthodontist and oral surgeon work together to get the unerupted eye teeth to erupt. For such cases we refer to our specialist orthodontist, Dr. Parita Bagheri at 76 Harley Street.