Thread: A question about losing milk teeth

Bit of a dark topic, as research for a bit of a dark character;

If a child's front milk teeth were violently knocked out, would it be physically possible for any collateral damage related to the detoothing to prevent adult teeth from growing back in the future? Say if certain blood vessels or muscles or other organs in the mouth were damaged?

I think the adult teeth would come through fine. Im only going by what Ive seen with my eldest losing a tooth when he was 5 and his friend accidently headbutted him. They were on a swirly slide together and my sons friend stopped suddenly and my son came spinning around behind his mate who somehow jutted his head forward into my sons mouth. The impact caused the tooth to snap off! We had a surgeon look at him and it was all good, xrays showed the adult tooth sitting there, and it started to come out after a few months.

Now, if there was damage to the nerve then it might be a different outcome - not sure about that.

I think the only way it would cause problems is if there were damage to the gums themselves which would physically prevent the adult teeth from coming in properly. But I'd give your local dentist a call.

Yeah, from brief research, there would either have to be massive facial trauma to the bone and fleshy upper jaw to cause the bone formation to alter enough for teeth not to form, or, as Shadow says, the gums. Possibly some kind of serious infection from losing the milk teeth so violently could affect the blood vessels/ nerves in that area.

A guy in my high school had a set of fake front chompers because, as a kid, his buddy's mom had backed into his mouth. Trailer hitch caught him right in the smile. Took out all his teeth--both the set he was using and the spares.

So, yeah, definitely possible.

I think the adult teeth would come through fine. I’ve known a few kids who’ve had their front teeth knocked out and the adult teeth came okay. I think there would have to be major damage to prevent the teeth from growing in (from a serious car accident or similar trauma).

A bit off topic but I did know someone (who I worked for) who on a frequent basis would have an alcoholic beverage most evenings. His young daughter (two or three years old at the time) always insisted on sucking the piece of lemon in his drink. For years he happily obliged. Her baby teeth rotted and fell out prematurely. I remember that there was major concern that her adult teeth may not grow in or would be severely compromised. Basically the acidity in the lemon had rotted her gums. I don’t actually know if they grew in or not as I lost contact with him.

Good idea to give a few dentists a call. I’m sure most would be happy to help and give you a few minutes of their expert time, especially if you explain that it is research for a book.

The most comprehensive and most widely distributed encyclopedia in the history of the world has a surprisingly detailed article on tooth development, the upshot of which is that permanent teeth begin developing before birth and the buds undergo initial calcification at around six months age, so there would be structures whose damage could presumably cause adontia of the primary incisors per your suggestion and although that seems to be a rare circumstance from my personal experience and no mention of it is made in the article, it seems that this information alone could easily be sufficient basis for a plausible fictional scenario. Certainly a writer with any imagination could parly that wealth of technical explaination into an argument everyone would be forced to believe, given the literary circumstance.

My middle child teeth didn't get knocked out completely but they were damaged, turned an awful gray. The dentist said that we had to keep an eye on it as it could cause infection and damage the adult teeth. This wasn't anything particularly violent, just a three year old messing around.