Be Aware of the Impacted Canine Teeth

My daughter took great care of her teeth. She had beautiful baby teeth, never one cavity, we went for regular check-ups at the government clinics. Sometimes she had to have baby teeth pulled out because the adult teeth were coming in behind (two rows like a shark) and I prided myself on how strong her teeth were. 

Except no doctor told me about the canines or checked if they were ready to come in and therefore pull out the baby teeth to make a place for them to fall into the correct place naturally. 

Consequently, she has two impacted canines which need years of braces and pulling down into place. Something to definitely watch out for as they approach 11 or 12 years of age.

She has had braces on for a year and will likely need another year or more. We have had at least 10 dentist visits in the past year and she has now had a little surgery to open the gum and encourage the canine to fall down into its position. Hopefully, that will happen and then we move to the other side and try to do the same. 

I fell like such a terrible mother for not knowing this about the canines. I look at other kids who had rotten baby teeth due to sweets are not brushing and now see their beautiful adult teeth and wonder if I should have let her eat the blinking sweets, weakening the teeth and falling out when they should have.

Fortunately, as my daughter's a Kuwaiti she gets free dentistry (which is probably why so many Kuwaitis have great teeth). She has some wonderful doctors at Bneid Al Gar Clinic attending to her and we are eternally grateful as this treatment would cost thousands to do otherwise.

Be aware mommies out there.