Hypodontia help! Very nervous and worried about the future

[DoctorEMH]

Hey all, new guy around here! I’m an 18 year old guy from the U.K., and I suffer from hypodontia on my two upper secondary premolars. I currently have two baby teeth there still, which have done very well so far, but on my last visit my dentist took an X-ray and said that the one on the right had started resorption and only had a couple of years left. Since then I’ve been worried sick as it means I’m going to have to get it treated at a pretty young age it would seem. Why this gets to me is because I’ve had lots of orthodontic braces work done to correct an underbite already and these teeth were left in, so if they go, it messes up my retainer and basically all previous treatment. I’m just scared of the medical effects of not treating it, but also scared of the treatments too, hating every option, especially bridges as my teeth are super healthy otherwise, I take very good care of them. I worry that I may have to settle for a partial denture at a very young ag, or go all in for implants, which would both be expensive and the thought makes me feel sick from the idea of having to be awake for it, I couldn’t deal with it at all. Is there any advice anyone could offer about what to do? It becomes such a fear that it stops me being happy about anything as I’m so scared of having to treat it further down the line. Is there any way to have the implant done under general anaesthetic too? I’d rather not be awake at all if possible, or at least not consciously remember it at all while it’s happening

 

[comfortdentist]

In general I recommend to keep the baby teeth as long as possible even if the roots are resorbing. Many times they last very long

 

[brit]

As a patient in my experience implants are not particularly onerous from a patient's point of view although you need to ensure the dentist is sufficiently skilled. Pain control should be 100% with just local anaesthetic. You could opt for i/v sedation if you really wanted to. Try to stop worrying about what might be and cross that bridge when you come to it....technology is moving on all the time.
Best wishes.

 

[comfortdentist]

by the way 18 is too young for an implant