Periodic Exam

A 13-year-old boy has not returned to clinic for exam and cleaning in the last 2.5 years.  The left baby molar tooth (Fig.1 E) has not fallen out, while its adult tooth  (#5) has not come.  The process should have taken placed at the age of 12 years.  In fact the right adult tooth (#5) has come out normally.  This suggests the importance of periodic exam.  The latter should be every 6 months.  The baby tooth is removed immediately.  If the adult tooth does not come out in a short period of time, braces will be used to pull it out.  Since the adult tooth is young with short immature root (*), it has a chance to erupt.

A 38-year-old lady has a retained baby tooth on the right side (Fig.2 E), which bothers her frequently recently.  The top adult tooth has a long mature root (red dashed line).  The adult tooth appears to have low or no chance to come out.

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Xin Wei, DDS, PhD, MS 1st edition 12/26/2017, last revision 12/26/2017