Yeah, my dentist actually brought up bone loss as a real concern. He said the longer you wait after losing a tooth, the more the bone can shrink, which sometimes means extra procedures or higher costs down the road. I’m using a retainer for now, but honestly, I’m keeping a close eye on timing for that reason.
My kiddo lost a baby tooth early (not supposed to come out yet) and our dentist started talking about bone loss too. I didn’t realize it could be such a big deal, honestly. How fast does the bone actually shrink? I keep worrying if we’re waiting too long for anything permanent. Has anyone else’s child needed extra procedures because of waiting? The idea of more surgery or higher costs is kinda stressing me out.
Title: Would You Wait or Go Straight for an Implant After Losing a Tooth?
I totally get the stress—dentists have a way of making “bone loss” sound like your kid’s jaw is about to vanish overnight. When my youngest lost a molar early (thanks to a trampoline mishap), I went down the same rabbit hole. I pictured her jaw shrinking like a deflating balloon. Turns out, it’s not quite that dramatic, but yeah, bone does start to shrink when there’s no tooth keeping it company. Our dentist said it’s a slow process, but it does add up if you wait too long.
We ended up waiting a bit because, honestly, the idea of more dental work (and the bill) gave me hives. In our case, she needed a little bone graft before getting her “grown-up” tooth sorted out. Nothing major, but it did mean an extra appointment and some extra cost. I’m not sure if we could’ve skipped that if we’d acted faster. Hindsight, right?
Here’s the thing—kids’ jaws are still growing, so sometimes dentists don’t want to rush into implants anyway. I’ve heard of space maintainers being used just to keep things from shifting around too much while you wait. Did your dentist mention those at all? Or is the plan to just wait and see?
I know it’s easy to panic about the “what ifs” (I did), but sometimes waiting isn’t the end of the world, especially if your kiddo isn’t in pain or having trouble eating. I’m curious—has anyone else had a dentist push for immediate action, or is the “wait and see” approach more common? And if you went with a space maintainer, did it actually help, or was it just another thing to clean?
I totally relate to the anxiety. I kept worrying about bone loss too and kept second-guessing if waiting would mess things up for my son. Our dentist was more in the “wait and see” camp, but did mention a space maintainer. We went with it—honestly, it wasn’t as annoying to clean as I thought, but I still stressed over whether we were making the right call. You’re not alone in feeling torn. It’s so hard to know when to act and when to just breathe and wait.
That’s exactly how I felt—every decision seemed like it could have some big consequence down the road. We waited a bit before doing anything permanent, and our dentist also suggested a space maintainer for my daughter. It honestly wasn’t too bad to deal with, but I still kept wondering if we should’ve just gone straight for the implant. Sometimes it feels like there’s no perfect answer… just trying to balance all the “what ifs” and hope we’re not overthinking it.
