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Strange toothy trouble...

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nutgoneflake | 21:47 Sun 16th Sep 2007 | Family & Relationships
16 Answers
My 6 year old is getting his first permanent molars at the mo. The ones at the top are fine, but the ones at the bottom - partially erupted so far - are troubling me. At school on Friday, he said something was moving side to side and came out. He brought it home and it looked like a tiny 'crumb' of bone.

Tonight, I took out another little piece from the same hole, and looked on the other side and found another little wobbly bit sticking out of his gum that side too. It looked like the other bumps of tooth pushing through except that it's wobbly. When I looked more closely, I realised that they're both much more yellowy than the teeth coming through, and they definitely don't feel as hard as tooth enamel, but more like bone, and very rough and jagged.

Is it bone?? Has anyone else had this happen with children's teeth? Both of my sons' sets of teeth are excellent and I seem to be bringing up two fanatical teeth-cleaners (they take after me...!) so I'm confident there's no decay, or hygiene issues. I've had a very good, close-up look tonight because I have a 'thing' about teeth and I was starting to worry, but when I knew it wasn't a bit of tooth, it got me wondering just what it is. We'll be off to the dentist anyway, but it may be a while before we can get an appointment, so please, any help? Or experience/answers/ideas??

Thankyou! xx
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One of my youngsters had trouble with his bottom two front teeth that sounds similar to your boy's problem.
I took him to the dentist who said his baby teeth hadn't come out cleanly but had broken off and the bits we kept finding were bits of his teeth. There were still a couple of fragments left of one tooth so the dentist gave my son an injection and whipped them out. His adult teeth were already showing and later came through with no problems. I'm sure your dentist will reassure you. Good luck.
(P.S. I don't know if I'm weird but I always thought my kids looked cute when they were at the 'gappy' stage!)
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Thanks mrs o! I'm taking him to the dentist after school today as they managed to squeeze him in, which will please him. The fact that it's happening the same way on both sides is what's making me less worried - at least it's consistent! Still a bit scary to see bits coming out though...

I put this post in B&S too, and noone has come across this exact problem before there either, although yours sounds the most like it. The thing is that it's a first molar and it had nothing underneath it to get pushed out! No tooth, anyway. I'm wondering if it's just a small piece of his jaw bone that got scuffed off as this huge tooth grew up through it?! I'll let you know the outcome later. xx
I hope things went ok at the dentist - let me know.
I'm just back from the opticians with my youngest as he broke his glasses playing footie at school today.
Bloomin' kids!!
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The dentist took out a few more bits, including the bit I'd noticed last night, then took an x-ray. She confirmed it wasn't part of the tooth underneath because it wasn't where the cuspid would be erupting through the gum. Bump in the wrong place, put simply! She wasn't our normal dentist, and had a very thick accent, but I thought she said 'odentoma' but googling it only brings up prairie dog websites, so I may have misheard!! She said she'd never seen it before, and would get back to us., and that was that really.

BUT, I'm still worried really. It's quite scary to see all these bits coming out ahead of what should be his healthy teeth underneath. He's got quite a hole where she dug one out because it hadn't got as close to the surface as the bits I took out, but he was very brave when he rinsed the blood out! And he LOVES the fact that he had an x-ray and can't wait to tell his friends tomorrow!! Now we'll just have to wait and see, which I'm never very good at....!

Bloomin' kids indeed! Always finding new ways to cause trouble...
Lol, I'm pleased to hear he doesn't have prairie dogs burrowing in his gums!
It's easy to say don't worry but I'm sure it will be something and nothing. xx
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I hope so, mrs o, thank you!

Also, a message to annie - thank you too! I put the question in twice and the B&S version has been banned, which is a bit mean, and it means I can't reply to you on it.

We call Fin our shark too, with his extra tooth, and his name...! She didn't make any comment on that this afternoon anyway, so maybe there's still time for it to come out on its own before she wants to remove it.

Thank you both for your help anyway. I'll try and let you know what oddity it turns out to be!!! xx
Hi ngf - I noticed the other thread had gone, so came on here to see your update. Glad that it went okay, just have to wait and see now, did she give you any idea how long it would take?

Funny that we both have shark boys - I am sure that my younger son Ciar - does not want to be lava girl!
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I'll be on the phone tomorrow, annie!!

I checked again online, and spelled it differently, then got it I'm sure - Complex Odontoma. There are some horrible photos which are of huge versions of the same, but generally it's a lump of assorted bits of enamel, dentine and cement that's just 'there'! They seem to be discovered only when they've stopped teeth from erupting, or when an awkward one's caused pain etc. Then an x-ray will show them up, and they will always be removed, never to return. There are compound ones too, which are basically more teeth-like ones, rather than odd lumpy ones, which seem to be what we've got. I'm almost positive that this is what they'll tell me, but I'm crossing my fingers anyway! The dentist said to Fin that he was special and that they'd all be interested in his mouth. He's just gone to bed now, planning the story for the class at 'carpet time' tomorrow, bless him!

Even spelled this way, it seems prairie dogs are still unusually susceptible to it, which makes me laugh!
Give us an update when you hear.

We were at our local wildlife place last week and it has a prairie dog colony that spreads all over the park and they just pop out of holes everywhere and are really quite tame - if you are really patient and quiet you can almost get them eating out of your hand. Ciar was desperate to get one as a pet. My husband told him that if he could catch one he could take it home!! He was banking on him being too noisy and slow - but I was sweating a couple of times when he got quite close. I am sure that they wouldn't have let us walk out with a prairie dog! besides that, where would we out it? It would burrow out of the garden in no time. lol
Hi nutgoneflake , sorry the other thread left the planet AB .
Just wanted to say glad they squeezed him in , as I didn't think they would leave a child waiting. Let us know how you get on :-) x
Oh , well silly me , I just read back on this thread and saw that you had already been and although the dentist took furthur bits out deeper down , you are not yet clear what is causing it. Let's hope your regular dentist can enlighten you . Your son will have a good story to tell at school , bless him :-) x
any news ngf?
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Hi annie! I phoned a little while ago actually, and am still waiting for the surgery to call me back. I'm hoping the receptionist will be able to understand the dentist better than I could, and also hurry her up a bit...!
Well I hope that you hear soon and that it is good news. We have the optician later today, Craig's teacher said he had trouble seeing the board. He got glasses for the first time 6 months ago and I think that his eyesight has got worse already and that he needs a stonger prescription. He has grown 3cm in the last 2 months though, so maybe that has affected it.
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The dental nurse phoned me back, which was good, as I could understand her better! She's assured me that it's all fine - nothing extra left in his mouth, new teeth underneath unaffected, and no cause for alarm.

The dentist later changed her mind and said it was probably 'enameloma' which is just a little extra bit of tooth enamel apparently which formed when he was an embryo. (Can't wait to blow his mind with THAT bit of news!!)

So it seems everything's fine. Phew! I did start to worry that he may need some more bits taken out, and that they would be underneath, or around the roots, or somewhere that meant a mouth full of injections. He's much too little for that type of thing! We can all breathe again, and he's got a cracking story to tell his mates. Again!!

Thanks for your concern, annie xx
All's well that ends well

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