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I never had adult teeth grow in on my 25 and 24 lower incisors. That’s my smallest front middle teeth. This was a congenital condition as described in this art

I never had adult teeth grow in on my 25 and 24 lower incisors. That’s my smallest front middle teeth. This was a congenital condition as described in this article. I was fortunate enough to have access to implants, which I did not appreciate at the age of 13 and 14. The procedure was invasive. It required drilling out my baby teeth, (which did not fall out), and introducing a single peg which was fused into my lower jaw bone. There was a long time while my gum had to heal over this area which included stitches at first. I was given something called a flipper, which is like a retainer with two fake teeth on it. I wore this for what felt like an eternity. I recall one of the hardest parts about this was that I had become interested in girls and that I wanted to kiss my friend and this flipper was in the way of this. I was lucky that my friend Erin was accommodating and did not make me feel weird about both having to take out this dentures thing and that I was missing teeth while we made out. We are still friends so it must not have been too weird. Eventually, a mono tooth was made, (it’s probably not called this but that sounds fun) which screwed into the peg and had two “adult” sized teeth on the top. Over 25 year later, the teeth look real. The color was a good guess and unless you know to stare and look you do not notice them. I have yet to have a person identify them and I’ve had to tell partners, as they did not notice even after being close with me. I also do not notice them and have not had any real problems with them. That said, it would have been great to not have gone through all of that as an early teenager, though I came out just fine. Also, I can only imagine the fees that must have been associated with all of the work. I wonder if I could grow the teeth back now or if the fused peg has ruined the chances.

Waterluvian 6y ago
Are your cyborg teeth basically immune to tooth decay and other issues? Can you replace them longer term now that the foundation is in? Thanks for sharing your story.
- hwillis 6y ago
  No- care is basically the same, but the risks can be much larger. Your gums etc. are still at risk from bacterial buildup, and plaque etc live on your teeth more than they use it as a food source. Implants still develop plaque and calculus. If the gum starts receding from a tooth or an infection occurs, there are still barriers between it and the bone, and the body can repair some damage. Implants pass the point of no return far more quickly. If you get an infection around the implant, the bone around the implant will start breaking down and the implant will reject.
  - bredren 6y ago
    I was warned about this a lot over the years, though thankfully have not had a problem. I use an electric toothbrush now and that was a game changer in general.
- bredren 6y ago
  You're welcome. Despite what the other respondent said, yes they are immune to all forms of decay and have actually increased my strength by 4D6. I am not actually sure if they can be replaced if needed. Maybe they could hold a 5G antennae or something. I'll ask my dentist next time I visit.
  - db48x 6y ago
    You would have to open your mouth and point it at a 5G antenna to get a signal. But AM radio would be fine.
    - bredren 6y ago
      The tooth radio idea reminds me of a bit from a children’s story but I can not place it.
      - moron4hire 6y ago
        Fat Men From Space, by Daniel Pinkwater
        bredren 6y ago
        Yes! Ha! I read this in the library of my grade school. Thank you for the memory.
        moron4hire 6y ago
        I loved Daniel Pinkwater as a kid. He had such a wonderfully weird aesthetic. Thanks for the reminder, because I have little kids now and had forgotten about him. Borgle! Lizard Music! The Hoboken Chicken Emergency!
        bredren 6y ago
        :) At first I thought it was Ronald Dahl and that sent me on a bit of a dive with him. But it turns out he was just another author in my mind at that time. Did you watch Reading Rainbow by any chance? That was a meaningful show to me in these times. Eventually my biggest fandom went to Brain Jacques and the Redwall series.
ch0I9daAiO 6y ago
Thank you for sharing your story. I'll be going through the same procedure for my canines at 22. They never grew and my parents didn't have the money for implants when I was 10. Hopefully it won't be as intrusive as it was in your case, though I cannot say that I'm all that excited for the bills :/.
- bredren 6y ago
  You're welcome. FWIW, my understanding is that the technology has improved _a lot_ since then. You should be in a good place.
hwillis 6y ago
> I wonder if I could grow the teeth back now or if the fused peg has ruined the chances. This is WAY outside anything I really understand, but unfortunately I would guess not. There's an epithelial layer (the dental lamina) over the bone that generates teeth. I would guess that the peg is bonded to the bone itself (via hydroxyapatite) instead of any dental layers. Unless that layer can be regrown somehow, I don't think this would grow back your teeth. I don't have any implants, but I do have several missing teeth. I had something like 14 teeth extracted, including all of my canines twice- I grew a third set. I think that probably wasn't as bad as getting implants, although I can still remember the feeling in my stomach every time they told me I needed more pulled. My mouth is just too small to fit more teeth so I don't think I'll ever have a full set either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ What's probably more interesting is having the option of regrowing a tooth instead of, say, a root canal. Or just to replace teeth as they're worn down naturally.
- rowanG077 6y ago
  Wait what? You naturally regrow teeth?
  - garmaine 6y ago
    I suspect he’s a shark.
  - Someone 6y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperdontia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperdontia: Hyperdontia is the condition of having supernumerary teeth, or teeth that appear in addition to the regular number of teeth (32 in the average adult)
cgriswald 6y ago
I didn't lose my first baby-tooth until I was nine years old—and I lost that one in an accident where I slipped and hit my mouth on the bathroom sink. For the next couple of years I lost a few teeth naturally. Around 13, I had nine baby teeth pulled in the space of a couple months to encourage the permanent teeth I did have underneath to move in and one had to be sort-of anchored and pulled up over time. But I still have several baby teeth in my mouth even now and I'm over 40. The only good part of it is that I was also missing wisdom teeth so never had to worry about having those removed.

Waterluvian 6y ago

Are your cyborg teeth basically immune to tooth decay and other issues? Can you replace them longer term now that the foundation is in? Thanks for sharing your story.

hwillis 6y ago
No- care is basically the same, but the risks can be much larger. Your gums etc. are still at risk from bacterial buildup, and plaque etc live on your teeth more than they use it as a food source. Implants still develop plaque and calculus. If the gum starts receding from a tooth or an infection occurs, there are still barriers between it and the bone, and the body can repair some damage. Implants pass the point of no return far more quickly. If you get an infection around the implant, the bone around the implant will start breaking down and the implant will reject.
- bredren 6y ago
  I was warned about this a lot over the years, though thankfully have not had a problem. I use an electric toothbrush now and that was a game changer in general.
bredren 6y ago
You're welcome. Despite what the other respondent said, yes they are immune to all forms of decay and have actually increased my strength by 4D6. I am not actually sure if they can be replaced if needed. Maybe they could hold a 5G antennae or something. I'll ask my dentist next time I visit.
- db48x 6y ago
  You would have to open your mouth and point it at a 5G antenna to get a signal. But AM radio would be fine.
  - bredren 6y ago
    The tooth radio idea reminds me of a bit from a children’s story but I can not place it.
    - moron4hire 6y ago
      Fat Men From Space, by Daniel Pinkwater
      - bredren 6y ago
        Yes! Ha! I read this in the library of my grade school. Thank you for the memory.
        moron4hire 6y ago
        I loved Daniel Pinkwater as a kid. He had such a wonderfully weird aesthetic. Thanks for the reminder, because I have little kids now and had forgotten about him. Borgle! Lizard Music! The Hoboken Chicken Emergency!
        bredren 6y ago
        :) At first I thought it was Ronald Dahl and that sent me on a bit of a dive with him. But it turns out he was just another author in my mind at that time. Did you watch Reading Rainbow by any chance? That was a meaningful show to me in these times. Eventually my biggest fandom went to Brain Jacques and the Redwall series.

ch0I9daAiO 6y ago

Thank you for sharing your story. I'll be going through the same procedure for my canines at 22. They never grew and my parents didn't have the money for implants when I was 10. Hopefully it won't be as intrusive as it was in your case, though I cannot say that I'm all that excited for the bills :/.

bredren 6y ago
You're welcome. FWIW, my understanding is that the technology has improved _a lot_ since then. You should be in a good place.

hwillis 6y ago

> I wonder if I could grow the teeth back now or if the fused peg has ruined the chances. This is WAY outside anything I really understand, but unfortunately I would guess not. There's an epithelial layer (the dental lamina) over the bone that generates teeth. I would guess that the peg is bonded to the bone itself (via hydroxyapatite) instead of any dental layers. Unless that layer can be regrown somehow, I don't think this would grow back your teeth. I don't have any implants, but I do have several missing teeth. I had something like 14 teeth extracted, including all of my canines twice- I grew a third set. I think that probably wasn't as bad as getting implants, although I can still remember the feeling in my stomach every time they told me I needed more pulled. My mouth is just too small to fit more teeth so I don't think I'll ever have a full set either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ What's probably more interesting is having the option of regrowing a tooth instead of, say, a root canal. Or just to replace teeth as they're worn down naturally.

rowanG077 6y ago
Wait what? You naturally regrow teeth?
- garmaine 6y ago
  I suspect he’s a shark.
- Someone 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperdontia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperdontia: Hyperdontia is the condition of having supernumerary teeth, or teeth that appear in addition to the regular number of teeth (32 in the average adult)

cgriswald 6y ago

I didn't lose my first baby-tooth until I was nine years old—and I lost that one in an accident where I slipped and hit my mouth on the bathroom sink. For the next couple of years I lost a few teeth naturally. Around 13, I had nine baby teeth pulled in the space of a couple months to encourage the permanent teeth I did have underneath to move in and one had to be sort-of anchored and pulled up over time. But I still have several baby teeth in my mouth even now and I'm over 40. The only good part of it is that I was also missing wisdom teeth so never had to worry about having those removed.