Extra Teeth

Extra teeth, also called supernumary teeth and are very common. They are normally small bits of tooth like structure, but they can also be extra teeth.

Symptoms

• They may stop adult teeth from erupting, therefore an adult tooth may be missing and there may be a gap in your mouth or you may have a baby tooth when all of your other teeth are adult teeth.
• Extra teeth may cause your adult teeth to erupt in a crooked teeth fashion.
• Extra teeth  may produce a gap between adult teeth, most commonly between the upper front teeth.
• Cysts  may develop around unerupted extra teeth.
• Unerupted extra teeth may become infected.
• Extra teeth may damage the roots of the surrounding adult teeth.
  

  an extra tooth between the roots of 2 adult front teeth

• They may cause no symptoms

When do they Occur?

They are normally discovered when a dentist takes an x ray to find out why an adult tooth hasn’t erupted into the mouth or to explain why there is a large gap between teeth. Therefore they are usually found from about the age of eight onwards. However they not be found for many years if they cause no symptoms.

How Do You Find Extra Teeth

To find an extra tooth you will need an x ray.

What Do You Do About Extra Teeth

You must determine if the extra tooth is causing problems, if the answer is yes it is normally removed or extracted.  If the tooth is not causing

any problems it may be left in place. Occasionally taking an x ray of an extra tooth will confirm the tooth is quiet and can be left in place