How Often Do We Need to Review – Children Development and Bite – Part 1 – Teeth Development

• Is the size of the teeth appropriate for the size of the mouth? Are they too large or too small?
• Are the teeth misshapen?
• Are some teeth forming in the right position in the bone? There may be forming in such a way that they will not come through properly.
• Is the quality of the tooth forming complete? Some genetic conditions may cause the enamel to not form at all. Illness or trauma while a tooth is forming may cause improper formation of the tooth leading to patches of poor quality enamel.
• Are the teeth formation/eruption delayed in relation to the rest of the mouth? Sometimes the dental age is not the child’s physical age. This can occur if the room for the teeth is limited in a small mouth.

• When the teeth do come through, are their shape and position going to be difficult to keep clean? This can happen with deep grooves or fissures surface anatomy and crowded and impacted teeth.

As you can see more frequent monitoring may need to be considered. This may mean coming to check that teeth are coming through at their time. The main consideration is that the order of the tooth appearance rather than the time. If the teeth order is not correct, then further investigation with x-rays, will need to be done.  Common teeth that do not form are the upper lateral incisors (second tooth from the middle) and the lower second premolars (fifth tooth from the front).

Deep groves in teeth can be treated by flowing material into the deep tooth “valley” to make the tooth smooth and self-cleaning to prevent decay.

Poor quality teeth will need constant monitoring and in some cases treatment.

The overall arrangement of the teeth may need orthodontic assessment and treatment, the timing of which depends on each child.

It’s complicated! Regular reviews is need with early intervention when required, is the key.