“Baby Shark doo doo, doo doo doo doo. Baby Shark doo doo, doo doo doo doo. Baby Shark doo doo, doo doo doo doo.” Ok, now that I’ve got that song stuck in your head…. please don’t hate me. I really do have an important topic to discuss: Shark Teeth. No, not the type of shark you find in the ocean. Shark teeth in your children. Yes, it’s a real thing!
My Child Has What??
Normally, children lose their baby teeth after the small root under the gum line begins to dissolve and gets absorbed into their new permanent teeth. Ectopic teeth is the name for when a child’s ‘grown-up’ teeth grow in behind the baby teeth, instead of underneath them. This gives the child 2 rows of teeth, just like sharks have (hence the nickname: Shark teeth)! When this happens, the baby teeth may not become loose on their own.
This is a completely normal occurrence; however, it is one that needs fairly quick attention. I found this out when my oldest daughter was 6 years old. My husband and I were told that the baby tooth needed to be extracted quickly, so we made a dental appointment. Then we encouraged our little one to pull, wiggle, and move her baby tooth as much as possible. Sure enough, within a few days (and thankfully before the dentist appt.), the tooth was loose enough for my husband to pull it out (shockingly, my daughter actually let him yank it!).
Fast forward a few years, and now my youngest daughter has shark teeth too! This go around, we knew what to expect, or at least we thought we did. So, I encouraged her to manipulate, move, and loosen that stubborn baby tooth. Except, this time, it wouldn’t budge! We tried for a few days, even playing the song by LMFAO that sings “wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle,” over and over.
Finally, we made the dentist appointment, hoping that it would somehow become loose before we had to go. It did not. But our experience with extracting her 2 bottom baby teeth was easy as pie (which ironically, she couldn’t eat for 2 days after the procedure).
First, the dentist took an x-ray to check the location of all baby and permanent teeth. Then she told us what we had prepared for- that my daughter needed two teeth removed ASAP. We chose to do it immediately because the faster the baby teeth are extracted, the quicker the permanent teeth can move into their rightful place in the mouth. The longer you wait to do this, the more likely that the child could need braces or orthodontic work (ain’t nobody got time, or money, for that!! LOL).
Next, the dentist numbed my sweet girl’s lips and gums with a solution on a cotton swab. She shot the Novocain into her gums, then got to work removing the problem baby teeth. The actual extraction took no more than 5 minutes total. I was amazed. I knew baby teeth don’t really have a root system like permanent teeth, but still, I didn’t expect it to be that easy. (And don’t be alarmed when they hand you your child’s baby tooth with the root still attached- THAT looks like a pointy vampire tooth!)
Throughout the whole process, my daughter remained calm, quiet, and ‘still as a statue’ like the dental assistant told her to do. Of course, she bled afterwards, because she did, after all, have two fairly large holes in her gums. But that subsided within a few minutes. Then we were free to go home, with a list of minor limitations.
Shark Tooth Recovery
My daughter was told not to bite her bottom lip since her mouth was still numb and she wouldn’t be able to feel it for about an hour and a half. She was told not to run and play for the remainder of the day, so that she wouldn’t cause the bleeding to begin again. She was put on a soft food diet for two days and told to avoid rice (no one wants that stuck in their gum-line holes). We couldn’t brush her teeth that night. The only thing she really didn’t love was the rule to avoid sucking through a straw, since she loves her water thermos’.
Recovery was a piece of cake (which she did eat on day two since it was soft). Her shark teeth eventually moved forward into their correct location. And now we share our story for others who may not be aware that this is a real thing. So, when everyone else is singing the “Baby Shark” song, you might be thinking of teeth, but at least you’ll know what to do if it happens to your child.
