Milk teeth or deciduous dentition is the first set of teeth to appear in some mammals, including humans. They are formed during embryonic development and do not break the gum until the first months of the baby’s life.
In general, at two and a half years, the complete milk dentition is already in place and it will begin to be replaced by the permanent one around the fifth and sixth year. This process can be delayed and there can even be cases of adults who still have a milk tooth and that causes them problems.
Milk teeth that do not fall out
The presence of some children’s teeth in adults is a common event and is usually the upper canines or premolars. According to the experts at the Nova smile clinic in Alicante, this is normally due to either a lack of space or a hereditary component.
Another cause is the absence of the final tooth that should replace the milk one, which prevents the piece from coming off when the time comes. This phenomenon is called dental agenesis and is largely due to hereditary factors, as published in the Cuban journal Orton by specialists from the Maxillofacial Surgery Service of the Juan Manuel Marquez Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Cuba.
Orthodontics with milk teeth
It is possible that the presence of a piece of milk in adulthood causes problems in the final dentition, either of an aesthetic nature, such as poor alignment, or functional. In this case, experts recommend different solutions.
First of all, it is necessary to do an X-ray to determine if the final piece exists or if it is a case of dental agenesis. If the tooth is there but has not come out due to lack of space, as a general rule an orthodontics is used to make way for it. The same procedure can be followed in the case of the absence of the final tooth, only that instead of favoring the output, the milk piece can be replaced by an implant. In any case, these treatments are usually personalized, depending on each situation.
