Slow tooth eruption

[birdieb]

Hi so my son is 11 years old and just had his braces taken off in December. He had a palate expander to widen his upper jaw followed by almost two years of braces. We were never told of any issues we might encounter. Our son lost his canines last summer and one of them has been very slow to grow. There's a little white nub poking out and nothing has progressed. Our orthodontist didn't say anything about impaction even when he's had panoramic X-rays (the most recent a year ago). I don't know if this can be normal for it to be delayed like this. I wondered if maybe if eruption was delayed while she finished up the spacing but it's already been two months since the braces removal with no change.

I'm really scared of oral surgery after hearing about a death in our state from an infection caused by wisdom tooth surgery. I'm also worried about having an empty space there for so long after spending a small fortune on his adjustments. I'm feeling a bit resentful if he's experiencing an impaction and our orthodontist didn't even identify it. He has a retainer but I don't know if that will keep his teeth from moving into that empty space. I'm going to be pretty upset if he needs braces again and a surgery. Our son has been so patient as the orthodontist kept postponing his removal and he's enjoying that freedom.

My questions are: can it take a while for a canine to come through? The other canine is fully emerged. We were told that enough room was made for his adult teeth so space shouldn't be the issue. So his canine just decided to get stuck? It sounds like the procedure to expose an impacted tooth involves braces and she took his braces off so are they going to put them right back on? I want to trust our orthodontist because she has done an amazing job and is very experienced but I don't want to be blindsided with a tooth impaction surgery. That doesn't seem like something she wouldn't be able to identify and let us know about ahead of time.

Thank you.

 

[Gordon]

It should have erupted by now.

You need to discuss this with the orthodontist. It's a fairly trivial job to encourage tooth eruption but honestly I've no idea why this canine isn't erupting or why the orthodontist doesn't see a problem.

 

[birdieb]

@Gordon ok thank you. What does eruption mean? Starting to come out or all the way out? It has broken through the gums enough to see the tooth. It looks like the pointy part of the tooth. Just no progress in a while as far as we can tell. It frustrates me to imagine him going back into braces after having them removed or needing that surgery (which will probably involve braces again to anchor it). I have severe anxiety about oral surgeries.

 

[Gordon]

Starting to come out or all the way out?

Both. The process of coming out from under the gum.

It frustrates me to imagine him going back into braces after having them removed or needing that surgery (which will probably involve braces again to anchor it).

Might not need surgery if some of the crown of the tooth is visible.