Dental Problems and Growth Hormone

It is not common among parents to think about dental problems when their child is suffering from growth hormone deficiency. The deficiency of growth hormone leads to developmental problems and in such cases dental problems also present in different forms. Deficiency of growth hormone is a common problem and this is not only linked to the problem with muscles and bones but also related to the development of jaw and teeth.

It is extremely important that the child’s growth hormones are assessed on regular intervals so the problem is ruled out at an early age. Along with the regular assessment of growth hormone, it is also important to assess the dental development along the way. If there is lack of growth hormone, then it directly affects the bone growth, as well as facial bones and development of teeth.

The children who are suffering from decrease or lack of growth hormones result in having their baby (temporary) teeth for longer years. For example, the normal span of losing temporary teeth is at the age of 6-7, but these kids tend to lose their temporary teeth at the age of 10-12 years, which just increases the time span to about 3-5 years before they can have their permanent teeth.

This delays the eruption of permanent teeth. It is not uncommon to see these children to have missing teeth as well as abnormal placement and thus for this matter they need braces for the proper alignment of teeth, bridges or replacement of teeth. It is important that this condition can be analyzed on a constant basis and for this, you need to take your kid to a dentist and x-rays are needed to be taken at regular intervals to see the jaw development.

For the development of the upper and lower jaws, growth hormone plays a very important role. If there is decrease or lack of growth hormone, the lower jaw will be smaller in size as well as the chin as compared to the upper jaw. As there is more impact of the low growth hormone in the development of lower jaw than the upper. If the jaws are still in the growing phase, then there are treatments available to fix the lack of growth hormone.

The treatments involved are the plastic retainer devices, as well as braces. This process is usually performed by the orthodontists and in cases of children are pedoodontist. The best decision regarding this can be taken by your pedoodontist, who is going to analyze the entire situation and will let you know as to what is best for your child. If the difference between the upper and lower jaw is more, then your child may be in need of surgery than braces to fix the problem.

This is not the job of your child’s dentist alone, therefore it is best that the dentist, the endocrinologist and pedoodontist must work together as a team and they have to work in close coordination to make the best decision for your child. The children who suffer from lack of growth hormone have softer teeth and are prone to develop cavities. Therefore it is must that an extremely good level of care is being taken of these kids to ensure that they are prevented from any cavities to further deteriorate the problem.