How to know if the baby is missing baby teeth or not?

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Missing teeth is the most common oral and maxillofacial abnormality in humans. Missing teeth can be a symptom of an inherited disease or a single symptom. The phenomenon of children missing baby teeth needs to be detected early in order to provide timely interventions to avoid negative consequences for oral health later on.

1. Signs that a child is missing baby teeth

Baby teeth in children play an important role in chewing, speaking, aesthetics and keeping the place for the corresponding permanent teeth on the jaw arch, helping the permanent teeth to grow smoothly and the jawbone to develop normally. Missing baby teeth occur in a low rate, often without symptoms, but can be recognized in the following cases:
Children with missing baby teeth can be detected during a dental checkup mouth by counting the number of baby teeth that have erupted corresponding to age. Baby teeth grow from the tooth sprouts that have previously formed in the jaw arch, in some cases, the baby tooth sprouts do not grow to form a tooth capsule that can cause swelling, pain, even inflammation... in this case the child will diagnosed and intervened through specialized examination and X-ray. Misaligned permanent teeth can also be a sign of missing baby teeth in children. Baby teeth not only play a role in supporting chewing and speaking activities in children in the first few years of life, but also help create room for permanent teeth to grow, usually permanent teeth will grow right below the roots of baby teeth. When children are missing baby teeth, the permanent teeth will easily grow misaligned and irregular in shape. In children with genetic disorders such as cleft lip, cleft palate, Down syndrome, etc., there are often accompanying milk teeth missing. Note, in some cases, such as mistaken extraction or trauma to the maxillofacial region, causing the child to lose teeth, it may lead to the mistaken belief that the child is missing baby teeth.

2. Causes of missing baby teeth

Missing baby teeth in children can be the result of congenital disorders or encountered during development.
Congenital causes: Lack of baby teeth due to the absence of baby tooth germ is common with the rate of about 1.5%. Instability in the genome, especially in the 2 gene codes MSX1 & PAX9, can cause children to develop missing teeth. During pregnancy, if the mother smokes or uses drugs or other chemicals such as thalidomide, it can cause the baby to be born without baby teeth. Children with a lack of baby teeth encounter during development: In case a child has baby tooth sprouts, but due to different reasons, the child's tooth germ is underground, unable to grow out of the oral cavity, so the child also suffers missing baby teeth.

3. Harm when children are missing baby teeth

Children missing baby teeth in the position of molars can affect the child's chewing ability, thereby limiting the child's ability to digest and absorb food. If a child is missing baby teeth in the position of the molars, it will often be difficult to observe and have little effect on the smile, but if the baby teeth are missing in the position of the incisors, it will greatly affect the smile as well as the beauty. of young faces. Children missing baby teeth can lead to misaligned permanent teeth, loss of aesthetics, damage to teeth and jawbone, greatly affecting the ability to chew food later. Children with missing baby teeth also have a higher risk of oral diseases such as tooth decay, gingivitis, ...

4. How to overcome a child's lack of baby teeth?

For children missing baby teeth, it is necessary to determine whether the baby tooth germ exists or not to have a reasonable treatment.
In case of no baby tooth germ: A child's lack of baby teeth due to lack of baby tooth germ does not mean that the child will lack corresponding permanent teeth. If there are no abnormal symptoms, parents need to continue to monitor the child's oral health status and take the child for regular dental check-ups. In case the baby tooth germ exists but the baby teeth are missing: In this case, the missing baby tooth cannot grow out of the gums but stays in the jawbone. At that time, the child needs intervention to release this tooth from the gums, to ensure that the permanent teething process goes smoothly and to avoid possible infections. Thus, the phenomenon of missing baby teeth in children can be caused by many different causes and lead to bad health consequences. Therefore, if a child is missing baby teeth, parents can take the child to Vinmec Health System to be examined by doctors and take appropriate corrective measures.

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Reference source: Ministry of Health