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Can teething cause a fever?

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Dr. Hall,
Our 8-month old keeps having fevers, and we’re wondering if that could be from his being on the verge of cutting new teeth. His gums are swollen on his lower front. A friend told us that we need to make an incision in his gums to fix this, but I’m skeptical of that. Can you help?
Michelle from Colorado

(See Dr. Hall’s answer below.)


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Michelle,
Let me say right off that I don’t recommend cutting your baby’s gums. I paid close attention in my pediatric dentistry courses in dental school and I have never heard of that before. Mother nature has a way to make sure those teeth come in normally, and you don’t need to help her any. The pressure causing eruption of the teeth comes from the growth of the root—as it gets longer, the tooth is pushed up and out through the gum. I would worry, if you try to accelerate that process, that the root may not be formed enough to fully support the tooth.

Photo of the face of a crying baby, showing two new teeth in the front of the lower jaw.

(Photo courtesy of St. John’s Pediatric Dentistry, St. John’s, FL)

About fevers and cutting teeth. Yes, children can get a mild fever from erupting baby teeth. Other symptoms associated with teething are fussiness, drooling, restless sleep, and lack of appetite. I would give them a little Tylenol for this—no surgery.

And while we’re on the subject of tooth eruption, let me say one thing about the eruption of permanent teeth, because in some circumstances, those teeth may need some help. If the permanent tooth has appeared in your child’s mouth but the baby tooth is still there, you probably want to have the baby tooth extracted. Otherwise, it could cause deflection of that permanent tooth. This can occur most often for the erupting premolars that are replacing the baby molars. Erupting permanent teeth will dissolve away the roots of baby teeth as they come to the surface. The baby molars have multiple roots, and if only some of those roots have dissolved away, the baby tooth will hang on by maybe a couple of the undissolved roots. That can cause the permanent premolar to be deflected to the side instead of its normal position.

Or, in the front, when the baby teeth have no spaces between them, the larger permanent incisors may come in deflected from their normal path without dissolving the entire root of the baby teeth. With consultation from an orthodontist, I would extract enough baby teeth to get those front teeth to come in their normal position. True, that will make it so there isn’t enough space for back teeth, but in my view it is better to deal with the crowding back there and help your child at least have straight front teeth until they get their braces.

So get a little help for these situations.

Dr. Hall

Do you have a comment or anything else to add? We’d love to hear from you. Enter your comment below. Or click here to ask Dr. Hall a question.

About David A. Hall

Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.

The bonding looks terrible

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Hi Dr. Hall
I’m wondering if your recommendations on here are also good for children? My daughter is 11, she fell and broke off the majority of her 2 front teeth. Only a little bit of the top and sides were remaining, the whole front/middle was gone. I took her to her general dentist and he said he needed to fill the whole with bonding, and it looks terrible. It’s so lumpy, and myself and my daughter are devastated. The teeth with bonding are lumpy, short, and uneven. I don’t want her to go through life like this at 11 years old, so reaching out to you to see if the cosmetic dentist that you recommend in your list are also good options for children or if you have any other recommendations of anyone that would be able to help us.
Thank you for your time.
– Jessica from Phoenix

I found your website searching for: Can bad dental bonding be fixed?

(See Dr. Hall’s answer below.)


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Jessica,
It sounds like your dentist had the right idea, fixing this with bonding, but just didn’t have the skill to make it look like real teeth. Doing cosmetic bonding, especially with a large part of the tooth missing, requires artistic ability. This type of case is actually one of the cases required for the accreditation examination of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, because of the artistic skill required. Most dentists come to the profession with an engineering mindset and aren’t really artistically inclined.

As long as your daughter is able to cooperate with dental care and sit still while the dentist does this work, I believe that any of our expert cosmetic dentists would have no problem doing this procedure for her. Some dentists enjoy seeing children of all ages, others don’t. Where dentists who don’t like seeing children draw the line is with very young children who may fuss over a dental appointment or have any level of difficulty cooperating with the dentist’s instructions. That doesn’t look like that would apply for your daughter.

I’m glad that your dentist didn’t recommend placing crowns on your daughter’s front teeth. Many dentists would try to get you to agree to complete crowns, which would free them from the artistic work of doing cosmetic bonding. There are two significant problems with putting a crown on the front tooth of an 11-year-old:

  • One is that the pulp of the front tooth of an 11-year-old is very large. As we age, the pulp shrinks, but at the age of 11, it can be quite close to the surface. Doing a crown on a front tooth that young could easily kill the pulp of the tooth, complicating the treatment by requiring a root canal treatment followed by some kind of post before the crown is placed.
  • Another is that the tooth is likely to erupt further as your daughter gets older, which would end up exposing the margin between the crown and the tooth, impairing the aesthetics of the case and making it obvious that the tooth has a crown.

So my recommendation would be to go to one of our expert cosmetic dentists and have them do the bonding on your daughter’s teeth. Done right, they will end up looking totally natural and no one will know that she has had work done. I would not go to a pediatric dentist, who is likely to have little training and very little inclination to do beautiful cosmetic dentistry.

Do you have a comment or anything else to add? We’d love to hear from you. Enter your comment below. Or click here to ask Dr. Hall a question.

About David A. Hall

Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.

My adult teeth grew in behind my baby teeth

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Hey Dr. Hall,
I was reading your answer to Cathryn from California. I’m 16 as well and still have my baby teeth but the problem is my adult teeth grew behind my baby teeth. And it’s been like this for years now. I would like to know if this can be fixed?? Please help.
Kaela

(See Dr. Hall’s answer below.)


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Kaela,
You have a very different situation from Cathryn from California, who I answered earlier. Her adult canine teeth hadn’t erupted, and that’s why she still had her baby canine teeth. You’re telling me that you still have your baby teeth but also your permanent teeth are all in.

I’d need to know more to give you a more specific answer, but let me see what I can tell you to help.

First, to answer your general question, yes, this can be fixed with orthodontics. I’m not sure how many teeth we’re talking about, but as long as the permanent teeth have erupted, and it sounds like you’re telling me they have, they can always have brackets attached to them and be moved to their correct positions.

As far as exactly how to proceed, that depends on the situation. If all the permanent teeth are present, you’ll be wanting all the baby teeth taken out. You may even need some permanent teeth extracted, too, because it’s sounding like things must be crowded in your mouth.

I have a couple of additional things to say about this situation.

First, if a baby tooth doesn’t come out on its own and the permanent tooth appears, breaking the surface of the gums, best practice would be to take out the baby tooth. Otherwise, the baby tooth will tend to deflect the permanent tooth into an incorrect position. Had that been done in your case, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you would be guaranteed to not need orthodontic treatment, but if you did, it would be simpler and you would have less of a jumbled mess in your mouth. Taking the baby tooth out clears an eruption path for the permanent tooth.

Second, your question gives me an opportunity to say something about retained baby teeth and how to manage them. Sometimes there’s a missing permanent tooth (a congenitally missing tooth), which means that you will not lose the baby tooth. This will usually be a maxillary lateral incisor, or a mandibular premolar.

For mandibular premolars, my usual practice was to maintain these teeth with fillings or whatever they needed, as long as it is in a good position and aligns properly in the bite. They will often end up falling out eventually because of their inadequate root structure. I had one patient whose baby molars I maintained for many years and finally, when she was in her fifties, they fell out.

For maxillary lateral incisors, they are most often displaced by the maxillary canine teeth, and so the patient ends up with a missing tooth. Here’s a photograph, courtesy of Dr. Thomas Chai of Sydney, Australia:

photograph of a smile showing one missing maxillary lateral incisor and on retained baby tooth for the other lateral incisor

This patient has one retained baby lateral incisor on her right side (our left). On the other side, when the canine erupted it caused the other baby lateral incisor to be lost. In this situation, I would have an orthodontist separate the patient’s left canine and central incisor, take out the baby incisor, and place implants replacing the lateral incisors.

– Dr. Hall

Do you have a comment or anything else to add? We’d love to hear from you. Enter your comment below. Or click here to ask Dr. Hall a question.

About David A. Hall

Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.

Using restraints in treating difficult children

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In my practice, I very much enjoyed seeing children—even children who were difficult to treat. Part of the reason for that was that the pediatric dentist on my side of town was someone I felt was mean and who would put ugly stainless steel crowns on front teeth, so I didn’t want to refer to him. But a big part of it was because I enjoyed the challenge of trying to understand each child and how to get them through the care that they needed.

One issue in providing dental treatment to children is the use of physical restraints. Sometimes it is needed, and I want to address two aspects of that restraint.

The first aspect is the use of a mouth prop to keep their mouth open anytime I was drilling on their teeth. When I was in dental school doing my rotation in the pediatric dentistry clinic, before I took my turn as the operator I did a turn as an assistant. My fellow dental student was doing a small, routine filling on a baby tooth when our patient bit down unexpectedly, poking the drill through to the pulp of his tooth. We had to call the instructor over and upgrade the treatment to a pulpotomy (the baby-tooth equivalent of a root canal treatment) and stainless steel crown. My partner got a lecture about using a mouth prop and I vowed in that moment that this would never happen to one of my patients—I would always use some type of mouth restraint.

I ended up routinely using a Molt mouth gag on all my child patients when I was using a drill on a back tooth. I never, during dental school or my 20+ years of private practice, had an accident like my dental school partner.

a scissors-like device with rubber prongs on one end to hold the mouth open and a ratchet to hold the position

The Molt mouth gag

But there was a very small minority of child patients that we would run into maybe once every couple of years that would need even more restraint to treat them safely. In spite of all the psychology we could use on them, they would thrash around with their head, arms, and legs, making safe treatment impossible. When this would occur, I would excuse myself to the reception room and ask the parent for permission to physically restrain their child. They always gave permission, and we would proceed to wrap them in a papoose and complete the treatment.

a 6-year-old child wrapped tightly in a blanket and papoose board, restraining his arms, legs, and head

The Papoose Board

This technique has been criticized by some as being mean and traumatic to the child. That isn’t my experience at all. These were strong-willed children who refused to cooperate and were determined to make it impossible to fix their teeth; and without general anesthesia it would have been completely impossible to treat them. Once they fully realized that the treatment was going to go forward whether or not they chose to cooperate, they would completely calm down. I cannot remember an instance when that didn’t happen. Sometimes, having become physically worn out from their earlier resistance, they would actually fall asleep as the treatment proceeded.

Once treatment was done, we would unwrap them, congratulate them on finally settling down, give them their choice of toys from the prize box, and part friends.

– Dr. David Hall

Do you have a comment or anything else to add? We’d love to hear from you. Enter your comment below.

Click here to ask Dr. Hall a question of your own.

About David A. Hall

Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.

How about a flipper for my 2 1/2-year-old?

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Dr. Hall,

My 2 1/2 year old had to have his two front teeth removed due to nerve damage from a fall. His dentist retired and we were sent to a new one. I mentioned a “flipper” or some sort of press-on cosmetic tooth (teeth). The dentist was slightly rude and told me, “he’s 2, he won’t cooperate for a flipper”. What is your opinion?
He has Medicaid so I’m going to assume that this wouldn’t be covered. The Do-It-Yourself kits online are all made for adults. Ughhh, I don’t want his teeth shifting and he’s already had to walk around like this for 10 months!
Any help would be greatly appreciated
-Kristine from Michigan

Kristine,

It’s unfortunate that your dentist was rude. However, as a parent who raised five children and one who had a lot of experience treating child dental patients, I can tell you that he is right. Not only would it be impossible to get a child of that age to understand the need to cooperate with wearing a flipper partial, there are other issues.

dental flipper partial

a flipper partial

It wouldn’t be safe, for one thing, as a flipper has the potential to come loose and choke your child. Just as you wouldn’t give your child certain toys with small parts or plastic bags that would pose a choking hazard, so you wouldn’t put something in their mouth that could easily come loose.
Besides this, there is a functional problem. A flipper is held in by metal clips or plastic parts that clip or press against other teeth. At that age where teeth are in development and the mouth is growing so quickly, you couldn’t get an appliance to stay in for any prolonged period of time.
However, there is good news in this situation, and that is that first, his baby teeth won’t shift at all because of missing front teeth. The shifting because of missing teeth in children occurs because of missing back teeth, and when those teeth are lost prematurely, a space maintainer is usually needed.
Second, children at this age are not self-conscious at all about missing teeth. So many children both younger and older have missing front teeth, either because their baby teeth haven’t come in yet, or they have lost baby teeth and are waiting for the permanent teeth to erupt. But even if that weren’t the case, I came to know several children who lost baby teeth due to accidents and it didn’t seem to faze them at all.
Bottom line–I wouldn’t worry about it.

Dr. Hall

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About David A. Hall

Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.

What is a pulpotomy?

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hello i would like to ask about pulpotomy treatment for children..thank you.
– Yamir from Iraq

Dear Yamir,
A pulpotomy is done on an infected baby tooth to kill the infection. In this treatment, most of the pulp of the baby tooth is removed, down to the roots, and the tissue inside the roots is daubed with a disinfectant such as formocresol. The tooth is then sealed and usually covered with a stainless steel crown.

It’s kind of like a root canal treatment shortcut for baby teeth that will fall out in a few years anyway. It is usually done only on baby molars, because they need to stay in place until about age 10-12 in order to hold the space for the permanent premolars. If those teeth are lost too early, the permanent teeth will come in all jumbled – not a good situation.

Another treatment option, if the tooth is too infected, is to take out the baby molar and place a space maintainer.

If you’d like to read more, you can go to the page in our pediatric dentistry section about pulpotomy.

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About David A. Hall

Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.

My 9-year-old daughter broke her front tooth.

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Dr. Hall,
Last night my daughter who is 9 fell and broke one upper front tooth and put a horizontal crack in the other. We took her to a dentist today and he doesn’t have the time to fix it until March. I want it fixed now and want to go somewhere else. He said the root needs time to desensitize anyway. Is it ok to bring her somewhere sooner or is it usual protocol to wait 3 weeks for a tooth to lose it’s sensitivity?

Thank you.
-Nicole from California

Nicole,
There is no reason to wait.

It will help if you have the piece that broke off. An excellent cosmetic dentist will be able to reattach that piece.

But I would strongly recommend choosing an expert cosmetic dentist from our list. You didn’t indicate what city in California you are in, or I might have recommended someone. But this is a tricky esthetic situation and you want this tooth to look good and match the other front tooth, and 98% of dentists wouldn’t be able to do that.

If you don’t have the piece of tooth to be reattached, I would recommend direct dental bonding as a repair for her broken front tooth, because of the age of your daughter. Then, when she is older and the pulp in the tooth is smaller, it may need a single crown, or more depending on exactly what the damage is on the other front tooth.
Dr. Hall

Read more about pediatric dentistry.
Read more about Preparing your child for a dental appointment

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About David A. Hall

Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.

The teeth of my five-year-old are rotting.

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Dr. Hall, I had a question for you. I was doing research for my 5 year old daughter and her dental needs. She has 4 upper molars that need work done. Her two first molars have small cavities, but they are pretty deep. The two se! cond molars have both lost some tooth structure due to decay – I believe about 30% of the tooth is lost. My first question is: What is your take on this? I wanted to know what what I can do for this. I don’t want her two second molars pulled unless that is my only choice. She has stated that the 2nd molar on the right side hurts when she chews down on it. I want to thoroughly do my research before I send her to a pediatric dentist. Every single dentist she has had, she has not let them do any work on her mouth, which is why its escalated to this point. She will most likely have to be put under sedation to get this done. I am not sure if she needs white fillings, bonding, or onlays. How should I proceed? Thank you and have a great day.
Colleen from Brooklyn

Colleen,

At the age of 5, she has only baby teeth in her mouth, but those teeth are needed to help her eat now, and also to hold the spaces for the permanent teeth. If those teeth are lost, she will need space maintainers or her permanent molars will drift forward and crowd out her permanent teeth, and her mouth will end up being a huge mess.

So go with the sedation, if that’s what it takes to get this done.

Your care and concern for your daughter shows in your questions. Your daughter now has gotten to a point where she needs some tough love, maybe tougher than you’re used to. The reason children at this age get so many cavities is because of their frequency of eating. Decay of the type you are describing, at her age, requires constant feeding all day long. If you give in to every request for food or treats, this is the result. But if you let your daughter go hungry for three or four hours so she can build up enough appetite for a regular meal, and do that consistently, you will guide her into a more healthy eating pattern, and you won’t have to deal with recurring dental disasters like this. Otherwise, plan on going through this ordeal on a regular basis.

Dental work on baby teeth is usually geared toward short-term maintenance of those teeth, because the teeth will fall out around age ten to twelve. So when a large portion of a baby molar is missing, a dentist will usually place a stainless steel crown or some other type of prefabricated crown, which will cost considerably less and take much less time than the precision crowns that are made for adult teeth.

Dr. Hall

Related links:
Preparing your child for a dental appointment

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About David A. Hall

Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.

Thumb sucking

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I was a thumbsucker up until I was 13. Now my teeth are shaped in a hideous way. I don’t have a typical overbite but my top teeth are shaped in an upward curve. I wish to know which procedure I need to go through to get my teeth fixed to the way they should be.
– Ellie in Trinidad

Ellie,
To correct the mal-alignment of your teeth after thumb sucking, you need to see an orthodontist. There are other possible options to make them look better, but from what you’re describing, the teeth are in the wrong position plus they have an incorrect inclination. Braces could solve both problems.

And, for the benefit of parents who see their children sucking their thumbs. My advice, after working with many parents on this issue during my dental career, and also working with my own children, is to play it cool. If you make too big an issue of it, you will actually reinforce the practice by creating a complex in your child. I would advise doing nothing until the child starts school. Thumb sucking causes no permanent harm when only the baby teeth are in, which is the case up until about age 7. And, if you “play it cool,” usually when the child starts school, peer pressure will help them quit. Notice that Ellie sucked her thumb until age 13. If she had quit when she was 7, she wouldn’t have had this problem.

If their permanent front teeth are coming in and they are still thumb sucking, you may need to intervene. But my warning is to use encouragement, not force, shaming, or other high-powered techniques, to avoid creating an emotionally complex issue for your child that could backfire. If your child finds the habit tough to break, there are aids that can help them break the habit. But they generally only work if the child wants to quit. If that is your child’s situation – they want to quit thumb sucking but find it is an ingrained habit, tell them you can help and buy Thum or another product to help them. Thum is a bitter liquid that you paint on the thumb. It makes thumb sucking unpleasant, and will help, provided you have not made it an adversarial situation with your child.

Dr. Hall

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About David A. Hall

Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.

Space Maintainer needed

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My 6 year old daughter has two broken baby teeth that are molars. The teeth have broken because of cavities/decay. The dentist we took her to is recommending that we extract the teeth immediately. Is this the right thing to do?
– Kristina from Wisconsin

Kristina,
When an adult tooth is infected, we do a root canal treatment. However, when a baby tooth is infected, root canal treatments rarely work, and never for baby molars, so the tooth has to be extracted. So your dentist is right to recommend they be taken out. The infection can spread in the bone and affect her developing permanent teeth.

You didn’t mention space maintainers. But I assume that your dentist is also recommending putting in one or two space maintainers, depending on which baby molars are involved. That is critical to prevent serious problems with her permanent teeth. At age six, her permanent first molars are either just about to erupt or have just erupted. They will drift forward and block out her permanent premolars, which could then erupt sideways or not at all. When baby canines and incisors are extracted, they don’t need space maintainers. But for baby molars, unless the patient is around ten to twelve years old (when the permanent premolars are erupting), they do. If your dentist hasn’t recommended that, you should find another dentist for your daughter.
– Dr. Hall

Related links:
Click here for basic information about pediatric dentistry.

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About David A. Hall

Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.

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