My Almost 2 Year Old Only Has 4 Teeth

B.,
I don't think it's strange at all. Neither one of my children got thier teeth at an early age. My daughter (now 12) never got her 1st tooth until she was 11 months old and my son (now 6) never got his 1st tooth until he was 9 months old. For both of them thier teeth came in very slowly after that. In fact my daughter was the only child in 2nd grade who hadn't lost her 1st tooth. Our dentist always told us the longer the better, the stronger thier teeth will be. Both my children now have wonderful teeth and no cavities each time we visit the dentist. We pretty much gave our children anything we ate, just cut pieces smaller and of course used some discretion. We were always amazed at what our children ate with very few teeth. Good luck and hope all goes well!

I agree with what everyone else has said and just wanted to give you more encouragement that all kids develop their teeth at different rates and that it's perfectly normal. Neither of my kids got their first tooth until they were about 14 months old, and the rest of their teeth came in later as well. My 4-year-old son finally got his last molars in about a year ago and has always been on the high end of the height and weight percentiles, despite his late teething. My 15-month-old daughter only has a few teeth but we give her just about everything we eat (cut into small pieces), except nuts and some raw veggies (but you can grate or chop most veggies into small enough pieces for them to swallow). I do think a dentist appt. is a good idea - our dentist recommends bringing kids in every six months as soon as they get teeth just to make sure everything is developing normally and to help get them used to coming to the dentist. Good luck!

B.,
First off most dentist around here wont even see a child that isn't 3 or 4 years of age unless there is like broken teeth or something like that. Both my daughers who r 8 & 9 years old didn't get their first tooth until they were 18 months old. I agree with u its very hard to fix them stuff to eat. I even felt funny filling out the WIC survey about what they ate because I thought they would tell me I was bad bad. My 8 year old was always in the 75th percentile for weight and height. There has never been a weight issue with either of my girls. I say like the other post said.... u might be surprised at what ur son can eat that u havn't been giving him. Give it a try. U never know. Good luck and let us know what happens.

All kids develop at a different rate. You may be able to give him more foods than you think...a babies/toddlers gums are very tough. I knew a mom who regularly gave her toddler who only had a couple of teeth red meat on a regular basis. Just avoid raw veggies for a bit longer!
K.

My great grandmother lost her teeth in the flu epidemics in 1918, when she was 28. She lived until she was 96. There was nothing she didn't eat, steak included. Teeth have little to do with being able to digest food properly. Cook any foods sufficiently, and he can eat all of them.

It does not strike me as odd that your little guy doesn't have very many teeth yet. The latest I've heard about a child I know getting teeth was 14mo (for the first one). 8 months doesn't seem very late at all, to me.

It is possible that when he is growing rapidly (mostly at night) he cannot stuff enough food into his body while he's awake to meet his energy needs through the night, so waking periodically when he's growing would be normal. For the same reasons that we don't expect to be able to eat enough today to meet our energy needs for tomorrow without eating more.

Tooth appearance is genetic, largely. You may want to have his face x-rayed to see if he has the rest of his teeth in there waiting to erupt... but other than that, there isn't anything that can be done to make them come out faster. Or make them appear if he doesn't have any.

I knew a man who never lost any of his baby teeth, and instead of x-raying why he hadn't, the dumb dentist pulled them all 'so his adult teeth would have room' and then found out he didn't have adult teeth in his jaws to start with. Dumb dentist.

Hi, as far as I know everyone is different and some babies are born with teeth so it could be just the other end of an extreme.

I would definately see the dentist if you are worried.

As far as the foods go I'm pretty sure that unless he is losing weight all children get what they need in a regular day of eating a balanced diet. If they were only eating cheerios and nothing else then you have something to worry about. ;)

My daughter started waking in the middle of the night when her back teeth started coming in and the cold milk helped to make it better but she didn't really need the milk to get through the night. Could he be teething?
I would worry about him getting dependant on the milk at night and having it become a habit that you will have to fix later as he will start waking in order to get the milk instead of waking because he needs the milk. Does that make sense?

Gook luck and please find another doc. You should feel comfortable with the one you see, there are many others and you need to feel like they take your concerns seriously.

I would say ask your dr at his next check up, see a dentist, but take both their opinions and let them balance each other out... There may be an issue that the dentist can pick up with a simple x-ray... But also keep in mind that at one time I heard that the longer it takes for a kid to get their teeth the stronger their teeth are. Good luck!!!