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Jai Ganesh

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Milk teeth

Milk teeth

Gist

Milk teeth, also known as baby teeth, primary teeth, or deciduous teeth, are the first set of teeth that develop in children. They typically begin to appear around six months of age and are eventually replaced by a set of permanent teeth. These 20 temporary teeth play a crucial role in chewing, speech, and the proper development of the jaw and facial structure.

The first set of teeth in humans are called "milk teeth" because they typically emerge during infancy when a child is still primarily consuming a milk-based diet. This term is also used because these teeth are smaller and whiter than the permanent teeth that will eventually replace them. While "milk teeth" is a common term, they are also known as "deciduous teeth", "primary teeth", or "baby teeth".

Summary

Milk teeth emerge through a baby's gums during the first couple of years of life. By the time the infant is aged 2.5 to 3.0 years, all 20 of the milk teeth should have fully emerged. Milk teeth usually emerge in the following sequence:

* The four front teeth, the central incisors, are the first teeth to emerge (two in each of the upper and lower jaw) and start to appear as early as six months after birth.
* Next, two lateral incisors in the upper and lower jaws grow alongside the central incisors and by time a child reaches 15 months, they usually have a full set of eight incisors - the biting or cutting teeth.
* Following this, the first molars appear, which help the baby grind food. Two first molars in each jaw emerge and are positioned one space away from the incisors to make room for the canines to grow in-between. The first molars should have developed by around the age of 19 months
* The canine or cusped teeth follow, with two usually appearing in each jaw by the age of 23 months. These teeth are used for tearing and allow the baby to manage more textured foods.
* Finally, the second molars appear, again two on the upper jaw and two on the lower jaw and complete the set of 20 milk teeth at around the age of 27 months.

General timeline for milk tooth development

The pattern in which milk teeth emerge can vary from baby to baby but in general, the following timeline applies:

* At around 15 months, 8 teeth are usually present
* At around 19 months, 12 teeth are usually present
* At around 23 months, 16 teeth are usually present
* At around 27 months, 20 teeth are usually present

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Once the set of primary teeth is complete, the jaws of the baby grow to make room for the permanent teeth which begin to appear at around 6 years of age. The milk teeth then begin to shed over the next 6 years and are replaced by a full set of permanent teeth by around the age of 12 years.

Details:

A baby is usually born with no visible teeth in their mouth. However, in a newborn baby, there are 20 fully formed milk teeth or primary teeth lying underneath the gums. These teeth loosen and fall out between the ages of 6 to 10 years to give way to adult teeth.

Why do milk teeth fall out?

It is primarily a matter of space. The jaw and skull of a child are very small, so they need bigger and stronger teeth to chew properly and have a proportional face shape once they grow up.

Children losing teeth is essential for things like chewing, but also talking. Many times when a child cannot say certain words or sounds, it is partly due to the shape of their mouth and the teeth changing. This is one of the reasons for the classic ‘baby talk’ way of children speaking.

When do milk teeth start to fall out?

Milk teeth start to fall out when the jaw begins to grow. A child’s teeth are not meant to be permanent – they are temporary, and no milk tooth will end up as a permanent tooth.  The milk teeth can start erupting at just 5 months of age, which can be a painful issue for breastfeeding mothers.

The usual range for milk teeth erupting is from 5 to 12 months. Milk teeth continue to develop throughout toddlerhood and have the same oral hygiene requirements as adult teeth. Proper brushing of a baby tooth can increase the chances of better oral health in a permanent tooth.

At what age do milk teeth fall out?

Most children start to lose their teeth from around 3 until around 12 years of age. As a child reaches the end of the toddler phase of development the teeth are lost gradually. The typical order a primary tooth will fall out of the mouth is as follows:

Incisors – 6 to 8 years old
First molars – 9 to 11 years old
Canines – 9 to 12 years old
Second molars – 10 to 12 years old

Each primary tooth tends to fall out in the same order as they erupt, which happens between 1 to 3 years old on average. There may be some slight differentiation in ages and order, but this is normally not an issue and should not be a cause for concern for the child or parent.

How many milk teeth should a child have?

Most people have 20 milk teeth. However, there is a condition known as hyperdontia, where a person has more teeth than they need. Hyperdontia results in what doctors call ‘supernumerary teeth’, which can cause complications. However, it is much more likely for people to have supernumerary adult teeth than milk teeth. In any case, as the milk teeth fall out, having more (or even less) is not usually likely to affect the child’s development in any way.

Do all of your milk teeth fall out?

Yes. All of your primary teeth are temporary. You have 20 primary teeth before the development of 32 permanent teeth. Your wisdom teeth will join your permanent teeth at around 17 to 25 years old, but there is no milk tooth for them to replace – they will erupt independently.

Even though all of your milk teeth will probably fall out by 13 or 14 years old, some milk teeth can linger further into your teenage years. In this case, you may require a tooth extraction if the old primary tooth is blocking the eruption of the new permanent tooth. In most cases, the tooth will eventually fall out naturally. The presence of remaining milk teeth usually happens at the back of the mouth, so this problem is not likely to be visible in daily life.

In rare cases, adults may have milk teeth remaining that have not fallen out by themselves – these will typically require extraction by a dentist.

Which milk teeth fall out first?

The milk teeth will usually fall out in the order that they first erupt in a child’s mouth. The central incisor is typically the first to erupt and the among the first to fall out – the incisor should fall out at around 6 to 8 years old.

If a child’s teeth do not fall out in order this is not a big problem, as the replacement teeth will come in soon after they fall out – no matter what the order. Some people’s teeth have just happened to fall out slightly out of order. A child who experiences an accident or injury affecting the mouth might also see the affected tooth or teeth fall out sooner than normal.

Additional Information

Deciduous teeth:

Deciduous teeth or primary teeth, also informally known as baby teeth, milk teeth, or temporary teeth, are the first set of teeth in the growth and development of humans and other diphyodonts, which include most mammals but not elephants, kangaroos, or manatees, which are polyphyodonts. Deciduous teeth develop during the embryonic stage of development and erupt (break through the gums and become visible in the mouth) during infancy. They are usually lost and replaced by permanent teeth, but in the absence of their permanent replacements, they can remain functional for many years into adulthood.

Development:

Formation

Primary teeth start to form during the embryonic phase of human life. The development of primary teeth starts at the sixth week of tooth development as the dental lamina. This process starts at the midline and then spreads back into the posterior region. By the time the embryo is eight weeks old, there are ten buds on the upper and lower arches that will eventually become the primary (deciduous) dentition. These teeth will continue to form until they erupt in the mouth. In the primary dentition, there are a total of twenty teeth: five per quadrant and ten per arch. The eruption of these teeth ("teething") typically begins around the age of six months and continues until 25–33 months of age during the primary dentition period. Usually, the first teeth seen in the mouth are the mandibular central incisors and the last are the maxillary second molars.

The primary teeth are made up of central incisors, lateral incisors, canines, first molars, and second molars; there is one in each quadrant, making a total of four of each tooth. All of these are gradually replaced by similarly named permanent counterparts except for the primary first and second molars; they are replaced by premolars.

The erupting permanent teeth cause root resorption, where the permanent teeth push on the roots of the primary teeth, causing the roots to be dissolved by odontoclasts (as well as surrounding alveolar bone by osteoclasts) and become absorbed by the forming permanent teeth. The process of shedding primary teeth and their replacement by permanent teeth is called tooth exfoliation; normally without pain or bleeding. This may last from six to twelve years of age. By age thirteen, there usually are only permanent teeth remaining. However, it is not extremely rare for one or more primary teeth to be retained beyond this age, sometimes well into adulthood, often because its secondary tooth failed to develop.

Function

Primary teeth are essential in the development of the mouth. The primary teeth maintain the arch length within the jaw, the bone and the permanent teeth replacements develop from the same tooth germs as the primary teeth. The primary teeth provide guidance for the eruption pathway of the permanent teeth. Also the muscles of the jaw and the formation of the jaw bones depend on the primary teeth to maintain proper spacing for permanent teeth. The roots of primary teeth provide a pathway for the permanent teeth to erupt. The primary teeth are important for the development of the child's speech, for the child's smile and play a role in chewing of food, although children who have had their primary teeth removed (usually as a result of dental caries or dental injuries) can still eat and chew to a certain extent.

Caries in deciduous teeth

Dental caries, also known as tooth decay and cavities, is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases among children worldwide. This oral condition involves bacterial infection which demineralizes and destroys tooth tissues. In primary dentition, extensive tooth decay is the most common dental disease. An extensive carious lesion affects at least half of a tooth and possibly involves the pulp.

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