Why Doesn't My Kid Have All His Baby Teeth

Dental Health and Your Child's Teeth

Medically Reviewed by Evan Frisbee, DMD on October 31, 2021

Baby Teeth

A child'due south oral fissure has twenty initial teeth, also called principal teeth, baby teeth, or deciduous teeth:

Four second molars
Four outset molars
4 cuspids (besides called canine teeth or eyeteeth)
Four lateral incisors
Four central incisors

For each ready of four teeth, 2 teeth are in the upper arch (one on each side of the mouth) and two are in the lower curvation (one on each side of the oral cavity).

Permanent Teeth

The adult mouth has 32 permanent teeth:

Four tertiary molars (also called wisdom teeth)
Iv second molars (likewise called 12-year molars)
Four get-go molars (likewise chosen 6-year molars)
Four second bicuspids (also chosen second premolars)
Four starting time bicuspids (also called first premolars)
Four cuspids (also called canine teeth or eyeteeth)
Four lateral incisors
Iv fundamental incisors

Teeth Functions

Your teeth are used for:

Biting and tearing. The cardinal incisors and lateral incisors are mostly used for biting and cutting, and canine teeth are primarily used for vehement nutrient.

Grinding and crushing. The premolars, molars, and wisdom teeth are generally used for chewing and grinding nutrient.

How Teeth Are Structured

Each molar has three primary parts: crown, cervix, and root.

The crown is the visible part of the tooth. A protective layer called enamel covers the crown.
The cervix is the area of the tooth between the crown and the root.
The root is the portion of the tooth that extends through the gum and into the bone of the jaw.

The following chart shows when your child'southward primary teeth (as well called baby teeth or deciduous teeth) should erupt and shed. Eruption times vary from child to child.

Every bit seen from the chart, the first teeth brainstorm to break through the gums at about 6 months of historic period. Usually, the first two teeth to erupt are the two bottom central incisors (the 2 bottom front teeth). Next, the summit four front teeth sally. After that, other teeth slowly begin to fill in, usually in pairs -- one each side of the upper or lower jaw -- until all 20 teeth (x in the upper jaw and 10 in the lower jaw) have come in by the time the child is 2 ½ to 3 years old. The complete set of main teeth is in the oral cavity from the age of 2 ½ to 3 years of historic period to 6 to vii years of age.

Primary Teeth Evolution Chart
Upper Teeth	When tooth emerges	When tooth falls out
Central incisor	8 to 12 months	half-dozen to 7 years
Lateral incisor	9 to xiii months	vii to viii years
Canine (cuspid)	16 to 22 months	ten to 12 years
First molar	thirteen to 19 months	9 to 11 years
Second molar	25 to 33 months	10 to 12 years

Lower Teeth
Second tooth	23 to 31 months	10 to 12 years
First molar	14 to eighteen months	9 to eleven years
Canine (cuspid)	17 to 23 months	ix to 12 years
Lateral incisor	ten to 16 months	7 to eight years
Central incisor	half-dozen to 10 months	six to 7 years

An overview of children's teeth

Other primary tooth eruption facts:

A general rule of thumb is that for every six months of life, approximately 4 teeth will erupt.
Girls generally precede boys in tooth eruption.
Lower teeth commonly erupt before upper teeth.
Teeth in both jaws usually erupt in pairs -- one on the right and ane on the left.
Principal teeth are smaller in size and whiter in colour than the permanent teeth that will follow.
Past the time a child is 2 to 3 years of historic period, all primary teeth should have erupted.

Presently later on age 4, the jaw and facial bones of the child begin to grow, creating spaces between the primary teeth. This is a perfectly natural growth procedure that provides the necessary infinite for the larger permanent teeth to sally. Betwixt the ages of 6 and 12, a mixture of both primary teeth and permanent teeth reside in the mouth.

Why Is It Important to Intendance for Baby Teeth?

While it'due south true that baby teeth are only in the mouth a short period of time, they play a vital role. Baby teeth:

Reserve infinite for their permanent counterparts
Give the confront its normal appearance.
Help in the evolution of clear speech.
Help attain proficient nutrition (missing or rust-covered teeth get in difficult to chew, causing children to reject foods)
Aid give a good for you start to the permanent teeth (decay and infection in baby teeth can cause impairment to the permanent teeth developing beneath them)

To understand the issues that decomposable baby teeth can cause in permanent teeth, see Oral Wellness Problems in Children.

Children should usually exist seen by a dentist past the age of 1 or within 6 months subsequently their first tooth comes in.

What Happens at the Commencement Dental Visit?

The starting time dental visit is commonly short and involves very little handling. This visit gives your child a chance to run across the dentist in a nonthreatening and friendly way. Some dentists may inquire the parent to sit down in the dental chair and concord their kid during the exam. Or you might wait in the reception area during office of the visit so that your dentist can build a relationship with your kid.

During the exam, your dentist will check all of your child'due south teeth for decay, examine their bite, and look for any potential bug with the gums, jaw, and oral tissues. If necessary, the dentist or hygienist will clean teeth and assess the need for fluoride. They will also educate parents about oral health care basics for children, discuss dental developmental issues, and answer any questions.

Topics your dentist may hash out with you lot might include:

Good oral hygiene practices for your kid's teeth and gums and cavity prevention
Fluoride needs
Oral habits (thumb sucking, tongue thrusting, lip sucking)
Developmental milestones
Teething
Proper nutrition
Schedule of dental checkups. Many dentists like to see children every 6 months to build up the child's condolement and confidence level in visiting the dentist, to monitor the development of the teeth, and promptly treat any developing problems.

You will be asked to complete medical and health data forms concerning the child during the first visit. Come prepared with the necessary information.

What's the Difference Betwixt a Pediatric Dentist and a Regular Dentist?

A pediatric dentist has at to the lowest degree 2 more years of training beyond dental schoolhouse. The grooming focuses on direction and treatment of a kid's developing teeth, kid behavior, concrete growth and development, and the special needs of children'southward dentistry. Although either type of dentist can handle your child's oral health intendance needs, a pediatric dentist, their staff, and even the part décor are all geared to care for children and to put them at ease. If your child has special needs, call back about getting care from a pediatric dentist. Ask your dentist or your child's doctor what they recommend.

When Should Children Go Their First Dental X-Ray?

There are no rules for when to start dental X-rays. Some children who may be at college risk for dental problems (for case, those decumbent to babe bottle tooth decay or those with crack lip/palate) should take X-rays taken earlier than others. Usually, most children will take had X-rays taken by the age of 5 or 6. As children brainstorm to get their adult teeth effectually the age of 6, 10-rays play an important role in helping your dentist to see if all of the adult teeth are growing in the jaw, to wait for bite problems, and to find out if teeth are clean and good for you.

Nutrition and Your Child's Teeth

What your child eats affects their teeth. Also many carbohydrates, sugar (for instance, from cake, cookies, candies, milk, and other sugary foods and beverages), and starches (such as pretzels and murphy chips) tin cause tooth decay. How long carbohydrates remain on the teeth is the main culprit behind molar decay.

The all-time matter you lot tin can do as a parent is to teach your child to make healthy food choices. Hither are some tips:

Try fruits and vegetables. Offer fruits and vegetables as a snack instead of carbohydrates. Fruits and vegetables with a high volume of h2o, such as pears, melons, celery, and cucumbers, are all-time. Limit banana and raisin consumption, as these take concentrated carbohydrate, or if you serve these fruits, try to brush your child'due south teeth right away after they are eaten.
Choose cheese. Serve cheese with lunch or as a snack, especially cheddar, Monterey Jack, Swiss, and other anile cheeses, which assistance to trigger the flow of saliva. Saliva helps wash nutrient particles away from teeth.
Avert viscid, chewy foods. Raisins, dried figs, granola bars, oatmeal or peanut butter cookies, jelly beans, caramel, honey, molasses, and syrup stick to teeth, making it hard for saliva to wash the saccharide away. If your kid consumes these types of products, have them brush their teeth right after eating.
Serve sugary treats with meals, not as snacks. If you plan to give your child any sweets, give them as desserts just after the meal. In that location's usually more than saliva in the mouth around mealtime, making it easier to launder nutrient abroad from teeth. The mealtime beverage also helps wash away nutrient particles on teeth.
Get your children in the habit of eating equally few snacks as possible. How often your kid snacks is far more important than the how much they eat. Time between meals allows saliva to launder abroad nutrient particles that leaner would otherwise feast on. Frequent snacking, without brushing right after, provides constant fuel to feed bacteria, which leads to plaque buildup and molar decay. Endeavour to limit snacks as much equally possible and to one or two a day.
Avoid sugary foods that linger on the teeth. Lollipops, difficult candies, cough drops, and mints all contribute to tooth decay because they continuously glaze the teeth with sugar.
Buy foods that are sugar-gratuitous or unsweetened.
Never put your baby to bed with a bottle of milk, formula, juice, or soda.
Offer your kid plain water instead of juice or soda. Juices, sodas, and even milk contain sugar. Water does non harm the teeth and aids in washing away any nutrient particles that may be clinging to teeth.
Include skilful sources of calcium in your child's diet to build strong teeth. Expert sources include milk, broccoli, and yogurt.

Other Tips for Your Child'south Teeth

If your kid chews gum, opt for xylitol-sweetened or carbohydrate-costless gum. Xylitol tin can reduce the amount of bacteria in the oral fissure, and the chewing activity helps boost the period of saliva.
Castor with fluoride toothpastes. The best fashion to preclude tooth decay is to use a toothpaste with fluoride every day. Electric current recommendations are to utilise fluoride toothpaste for all ages, but use a very pocket-sized amount for younger children. The fluoride seeps inside the tooth to reverse early decay. Brush your child's teeth at least twice a solar day and later on each meal or snack if possible. If brushing between meals is not possible, at least rinse the oral cavity with water several times.
Floss your kid's teeth daily. Exercise information technology at to the lowest degree once a twenty-four hour period to help remove particles between teeth and below the gum line.
Rinse with fluoride mouthwash. A fluoride mouthwash tin can help prevent molar decay. Utilise only after half-dozen years old.
Brush your kid's teeth subsequently giving their medicine. Medicines such as cough syrups have saccharide that bacteria in the rima oris use to make acids. These acids can eat away at the enamel.

Easing Your Child'southward Fear of the Dentist

Parents and dentists each play an important office in making a child'due south first dental appointment a positive feel. Any anxiety that parents show will be picked up by the child. And an unfriendly dentist can crusade unnecessary fear in the child.

Parents' Role in the Dental Visit

To help the dental visit become more than smoothly:

Tell your child about the visits, but limit the details. Reply whatsoever questions with unproblematic, to-the-point answers. Permit the dentist answer more than complex or detailed questions. Dentists are trained to describe things to children in a nonthreatening way and in easy-to-understand language.
Avoid the use of words like "hurt," "shot," or "painful."
Don't tell your child virtually an unpleasant dental experience that you've had.
Stress to your child how important it is to maintain healthy teeth and gums and that the dentist is a friendly doctor whose job it is to help practice this.
Don't hope a reward for going to the dentist.

Keep in heed that it is perfectly normal for children to be fearful. Some are afraid of being separated from their parents; others are agape of the unknown; others are afraid of existence injured. A dentist who treats children volition know how to cope with your child's fears and feet and put them at ease.

Dentist's Role

Children may limited fear in a number of means. Some may weep; others may throw temper tantrums. Dentists ofttimes will use techniques to ease children'southward fears, including:

The dentist should talk in a friendly vox that could become firmer if necessary.
Simple words should exist used to describe the procedure. Sometimes, dentists will demonstrate the procedure on a doll or another person before doing it on the child.
Many times, dentists will tell stories or engage the child in chat as a ways of drawing attention away from the procedure.
Dentists oft will use body linguistic communication, such as a uncomplicated grinning or frown, to reinforce positive behavior and discourage negative beliefs. Praise and compliments should exist given to reinforce good beliefs.
The dentist may use sedation to help the kid relax and exist more comfortable, if necessary. The ii most common types of sedation that might be used in children are nitrous oxide ("laughing gas") or an oral sedative (such every bit Valium).

If your dentist does not take steps to ease your child'southward fears, consider finding another dentist. It is important that your child has a positive experience at the dentist during their early on years so that they practise not develop an ongoing fright of oral wellness care providers.

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Source: https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/dental-health-your-childs-teeth