I finally had my baby tooth removed at the age of 24

Although the rest of my teeth came out as normal when I was a child, I had a particularly stubborn one on my bottom row of teeth that just wouldn’t let go.

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It was very wobbly and made biting into food a real pain because I was always conscious that if I bit too hard it could pop out and I’d be left with an unattractive gap.

When I went to the dentist as a youngster, I was always told the tooth would eventually come out - but it never did.

I actually have two adult teeth that just never came through which explains why my mouth is particularly narrow.

Dentists have taken countless X-Rays of my mouth and jaw in the past to try and find the adult teeth, but they never appeared.

After years of inpracticality, I decided it was about time to get the baby tooth removed.

Photo showing the gap after the baby tooth was taken out

So I booked an appointment at Banbury Dental Practice and my journey to getting the tooth removed and replaced began.

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After talking with my dentist Nimra Mujahid about the different options available to fill the gap, and after doing some research, I decided to get an adhesive bridge.

This is where a false tooth attached to a metal wing is, effectively, glued to my gum, with the metal wing bonded to the inner surface of a neighbouring tooth.

It cost me £280 on the NHS.

Another option was to get an implant, but I’d have to go private for this with prices starting from £2,000. So the bridge it was.

Banbury Dental Practice

I had a total of three appointments altogether. The first was to do impressions of my teeth to make sure the false tooth that was made to replace my baby one would fit the gap perfectly.

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I was a little nervous about this – and my dentist too – because the suction from the impression could have easily pulled my very loose baby tooth out there and then.

But thankfully my dentist applied some Vaseline on the tooth in the hope it wouldn’t get pulled out with the impression – and luckily it didn’t. Phew!

Nimra cleaned my two teeth around the baby tooth during my second appointment to prepare them for the bridge.

And at my third appointment, the baby tooth was finally removed and the bridge was installed.

Photo showing the bridge just installed

I was more excited than nervous - after all, taking the tooth out was well and truly overdue.

It was a super quick procedure and only took about 25 minutes. My dentist numbed the area around the tooth before using a forcep to pull it out.

Nimra, alongside her hygienist, then proceeded to clean and disinfect the area, applied the adhesive, and fixed the false tooth in place, making sure it was nice and secure.

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And that was it.

The false tooth is basically a replica of the baby tooth that was removed and so it is slightly shorter than my two neighbouring teeth. I’d have to go private if I wanted any cosmetic changes.

But given that I have quite a large overbite and my top teeth basically cover my bottom teeth, I’m happy with the result.

The false tooth obviously doesn’t have a root like a real adult one does, so I still do need to be a little bit careful when I bite, but it’s a lot better than having a baby tooth that constantly wobbled around.

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