Catch up and quick question!

[brewersal]

Hello! The girls damaged the lap-top during the Christmas holidays so I've had no internet access and haven't been able to check in on 'unoland'. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! The girls were interested and opened their Christmas presents for the first time ever so Christmas day was fabulous for us this year. 8 years but worth the wait!
Just a quick question - does DS affect the rate at which teeth appear? Charlie doesn't have any yet and I don't know if thats the norm or whether I should be concerned. I've looked it up and can only find reference to less 'caries' than average and irregular placement. Any insight from those of you with more experience?
Love
Sal x

[wrblack]

Now, this is ridiculous, searching the Internet for my wife. Oh, well, instead of asking Lynn, since I couldn't remember, I searched the List archives and found this post from her from August 2002, "Charlie got his first tooth at 27 months and within a month had 4 of his back teeth. Now at 36 months Charlie has finally gotten his other top front tooth - I didn't think we were ever going to see that one! He's now working on his front bottom teeth. Although they seem to take a long time coming through, he doesn't seem to be bothered by it.

Lynn (Mom to Charlie - 3 years old and his 3 older siblings)"

And another snip, this time from Dental Care for the Patient with Down Syndrome by Dr. Elizabeth S. Pilcher
www.ds-health.com/dental.htm
"The eruption of teeth in persons with Down syndrome is usually delayed and may occur in an unusual order. (Mussig et al, 1990; Fisher-Brandeis, 1989). The delay in eruption may be as long as two to three years. Although independence in feeding and the introduction of food is encouraged in the toddler with Down syndrome, the diet may need to be altered because there are not enough teeth to chew some foods. There is an extremely high rate of missing teeth in both the primary and permanent dentitions. Other irregularities such as microdontia and malformed teeth may be seen. However, in an oral cavity with undersized bone structure, microdontia and missing teeth may be more of a blessing than a problem. Severe crowding can occur in persons with Down syndrome who have developed all of their permanent dentition (Ondarza et al, 1995). In these cases, selective extractions under the supervision of an orthodontist may be of benefit.

The roots of the teeth in patients with Down syndrome tend to be small and conical. This is an important factor when considering orthodontic tooth movement and also contributes to early tooth loss in periodontal disease."

Dr. Pilcher is a dentist and the mother of a child with Ds.
HTH,
Bob

[laurasnowbird]

Here's some info from Dr. Leshin's site:

www.ds-health.com/dental.htm

This does mention that delayed tooth eruption is common in individuals with DS, as well as eruption out of order, and missing teeth.

Like everything else with DS, it really depends upon how your child is affected. As we are fond of reminding people who think they know how things are going to go with Ethan "He does have 46 other chromosome!!!)

Ethan's teeth erupted on almost the same schedule as those of my other children, first two at five months, and coming in quickly and in the regular order afterward.

So, Charlie's teeth may be a little delayed, and may look a little different, or they may not!!! I can't remember how old Charlie is, but if y ou should become truly concerned at some point, you could always have an x-ray done to determine how many teeth he has and what their status is. However, I wouldn't really worry about it!

[brewersal]

Thanks both! That's helpful!

[ALLISA]

I didn't read the Dr. Leshin stuff.....but just remembering my own experience...yes.....Erin got her teeth LATE and in strange order....and they seemed to MOVE around a lot....front ones would get "squeezed" togehter....then few months later.....all nice and neat as a pin....then few months later squeezed again......

now they look perfectly fine....although those eye teeth COULD be called FANGS...very pointy ! LOL and she is 7 ( next month) and NO loose or missing teeth yet......

[char]

Abby di dnot get started on getting teeth till way past others her age at one year old she did not have any and the dentist stated thay will come in time now at 19 mo she has 4 molers two middle bottom teeth and one top middle tooth.

Abby DA Da