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When do milk teeth begin to fall out in children?
A few months after birth, parents wonder when the milk teeth will grow.
It is very difficult to make a prediction regarding teething in children.
There are no applicable parameters to accurately predict how much time teething the child will take.
It is said that the children are born with the installation of all 20 milk teeth. They lie under the gums, waiting to come out.
When does teething begin in children?
First tooth eruption
This phase begins between the 4th and 7th month. In children aged 4 months, the eruption of the first tooth is rare, but not impossible. Also, teething is not uncommon in children at the age of 9 months.
There are even children who celebrate their first birthday and still show a smile without teeth.
At about 6 months, a smile with a single tooth appears in most children.
If teething has not yet begun in a child at 9 months, you should consult a pediatrician for safety.
The final phase
This phase is reached when the first molars and incisors have appeared in the child at about 15 or 16 months.
After that, the canines grow and finally the second molars complete the complete row of teeth. When the child is about 3 years old, you can take a perfect photo of a child’s smile with 20 magnificent teeth.
In fact, the timing of teething has hereditary backgrounds.
Therefore, both parents should try to find out when the first tooth had erupted in them.
Teething model in children
Children’s teeth – also called milk teeth or temporary teeth – appear in a fixed order. These are the different transition phases (from the development of the gums to the pearly white teeth) that can usually be observed in children:
1) The first teeth that appear are the lower middle (inner) incisors, which erupt between the 6th and 10th month.
2) Then, between the 8th and 10th month, the upper middle incisors follow. In some children, they may also appear only after 12 months.
3) At about 9 to 13 months, one can already observe the lateral upper incisors, which break through the left and right of the middle incisors and thus form four teeth on the upper jaw.
4) When the child is about 10-16 months old, the lower lateral incisors (left and right of the lower middle incisors) also appear, forming a row of four teeth on the lower jaw.
5) Between 13 and 19 months is the phase in which the first molars can already be detected on the upper jaw. They are wider and appear in the back of the child’s mouth.
6) At 14 to 18 months, the lower first molars also appear, which join the upper molars.
7) The gap between the upper incisors and the molars is filled by the (upper) canines, which grow at around 16 to 22 months.
8) Like the upper canines, the lower canines, which break through after about 17 to 23 months, connect the lower molars and incisors.
9) Now only the second molars are missing on the lower jaw, which appear after about 23 to 31 months.
10) Finally, when the child is between 25 and 33 months old, the upper second molars can be seen.
At the age of 3, the child has a complete set of 20 temporary teeth.
A few years after the completion of the dentition (when the child is about 6 years old), the teeth begin to fall out.
They fall out in the same order in which they grew, that is, first it hits the lower middle incisors.
Premolars and wisdom teeth appear only with the permanent dentition.
At what age do children lose their milk teeth?
In total, the primary dentition consists of 20 milk teeth.
At the age of about 6 years, the milk teeth loosen and fall out on their own to make room for the permanent teeth.
However, the timing can vary and usually girls lose their milk teeth earlier than boys.
Usually the last milk teeth fall out at the age of 12 or 13 years.
The teeth that appeared first also fall out
first The 20 milk teeth of children (which usually appear within the first 3 years of life) fall out in the same order in which they appeared.
Therefore, it is usually the lower middle incisors that fall out first at the age of 5 or 6 years.
Then follow the two upper middle incisors.
As a rule, a deciduous tooth does not loosen if the permanent tooth underneath does not push it out. to take his place.
In some children, the first teeth fall out at the age of 5, in others at the age of 7 years.
In most cases, the milk teeth also fall out earlier in the children in whom the tooth eruption took place earlier.
Sometimes children may also lose a deciduous tooth prematurely due to trauma or dental disease (before the permanent tooth is ready to grow).
Sometimes the pediatric dentist then places a spacer (a custom-made plastic insert) where a temporary tooth has fallen out too early, until the permanent tooth is ready to break through to prevent future space problems.
In the case of premature loss of teeth, i.e. before the age of 4, you should consult a dentist to make sure that there is no disease behind it.
Some children also live to be 7 or 8 years old without a single milk tooth falling out.
In most cases, a delayed failure is not a problem, but it is advisable to consult a dentist for an X-ray and an evaluation of the situation.
There are people in whom the milk teeth fall out only in adulthood, i.e. between the ages of 20 and 25.
Symptoms of milk teeth falling out
The fall out of the milk teeth is usually painless, but if the edge of a temporary tooth injures the child’s gums, the dentist may ask the child to move the tooth vigorously.
At the same time that the child’s milk teeth begin to loosen and fall out, the molars take their place, most often at the age of 6 years.
The gums may appear swollen and some children complain of pain.
Usually the tooth wobbles over a certain period of time before it falls out.
When the tooth comes loose, the gums bleed slightly. You can then tampon the gums with a cotton ball to stop the bleeding.
Some children may get some fever.
Trauma can damage the tooth, break off or even push into the number flesh. In the process, blood vessels can be injured and the alveolus of the tooth can fill with blood, causing the incisors to appear dark.
The symptoms can be relieved with ibuprofen (Dolormin), paracetamol (ben-u-ron) or topical analgesics.
If milk teeth develop tooth decay, they need to be treated because they are more sensitive than the permanent teeth.
Many people think that you don’t have to go to the dentist because they fall out anyway. But tooth decay can lead to complications in a short time.
If the dentist deems it necessary, he can insert a filling, perform a root canal treatment or, in severe cases, pull a tooth.
The milk teeth are necessary to preserve the space for the growth of the permanent teeth.
Even if a child complains of difficulty biting or chewing with wobbling or missing teeth, a healthy diet should still be maintained.
If the child does not chew at all, you can try vegetable soup, pureed fruit and other healthy and soft foods.
One should make sure that the teeth are brushed twice a day and help the child in the use of dental floss.
The regrowth of permanent teeth
After the milk teeth fall out, the larger permanent teeth form, which is especially evident in the first ones that break through.
Most often, the teeth in adults are less white than the milk teeth and have more pronounced ridges, since they have not yet been used for biting and chewing.
Sometimes the new teeth break through before the old ones have fallen out, creating a double row of pearly white teeth.
This is a temporary phase, sometimes called “shark dentition.”
During this time, dental hygiene is more important than ever.
Probably, this process must be strictly monitored until about the age of 8 of the child and the required amount of toothpaste can be equivalent to an eraser on a pencil.
Some doctors recommend using fluoride-free toothpaste as long as the child can’t spit it it out well and the tap water contains enough fluorine.
The toothbrush should be replaced every two or three months to avoid harmful bacteria.
The child should go to the dentist twice a year.
Around the age of 12 or 13, most children lose their last milk teeth. At the same time, the molars appear at the age of 12 years.
Late tooth loss in children
If the child has not lost a tooth by the age of 7, you should talk to the dentist.
There are probably no problems, but the dentist may advise an X-ray to make sure that all teeth are present under the gums.
In fact, it is even an advantage if the permanent teeth break through later.
Because they stay longer in the jaw, they are harder and more resistant to tooth decay.
However, the child is not interested in this if he or she feels like the youngest in his class (some teachers stir up this fear by classifying the students according to how many teeth they have lost).
Then you could tell the child, “Everyone is different. Just as some children are bigger than others, some children lose their teeth sooner or later. The teeth fall out when the mouth thinks the time has come. If they fail earlier, it’s not good for the mouth.”
If the milk teeth do not fall out in the correct order, or if there are more than three months between the fall out of the deciduous tooth and the eruption of the permanent tooth, there could be a problem.
Some possibilities are:
- Edentulism
- Excess number of teeth
- Problems with the mechanism of tooth loss
- The underlying tooth is crooked and does not push out the one above it.
After all these problems, the dentist looks for during the orthodontic evaluation of the child. The doctor can determine if everything is going normally, or if they consider it necessary to take action to detect this problem (for example, the dentist can help move things around by removing some temporary teeth). One should make an appointment with the orthodontist for the child when it is about 7 years old to get a specialist opinion on the growth and development of the teeth.
What to do if a deciduous tooth falls out prematurely
Some parents may believe that the milk teeth do not need to be given as much attention as the permanent teeth of adults, because the milk teeth fall out anyway. However, the temporary teeth are very important.
They allow the child to chew the food, speak correctly and maintain the spaces for the future permanent teeth in the gums.
For example, if you lose a molar tooth prematurely (due to an accident or illness), the adjacent teeth of the missing tooth can move into the gap and cause space problems in the growth of the permanent tooth.
Even deciduous teeth affected by caries require dental treatment, and sometimes even special treatment in the hospital under general anesthesia is necessary. If neglected, temporary teeth affected with tooth decay can cause pain in the mouth, a tooth abscess, and problems with neighboring teeth.
Do not reinsert
milk teeth You should never try to put a failed milk tooth back into its cavity:
- It could grow together with the cavity and thus cause difficulties when the change of teeth comes.
- It could damage the permanent tooth lying under the cavity.
Saving
an adult’s failed tooth If a permanent tooth falls out, the following measures should be taken:
- Find the tooth, just touch it on the crown and check that it is clean.
- Rinse the tooth in milk or wash briefly under clean water if the root is dirty.
- Immediately reinsert the tooth into the cavity. Theoretically, this should be done within 15 minutes of the tooth falling out. This maximizes the possibility that the tooth can be properly reinserted by the dentist. Note: You should not reinsert milk teeth, as this can damage the underlying permanent tooth.
- Hold the tooth in position. This can be done with the help of an aluminum foil, a mouthguard or with your fingers.
- If you cannot insert it, you should keep the tooth moist in milk or wrap it in a plastic wrap.
- Then you should go to the dentist immediately. If too much time passes, you can’t save the tooth.
