Hello and welcome to my website. Let’s talk about teething journey- from baby(milk) to permanent teeth. There are 20 milk teeth and 32 permanent teeth in humans.
Baby (milk) teeth
Kids get their baby (milk) teeth around 6 months-1 years of age. By the age of 2.5-3 years, all baby/milk teeth must have appeared. These milk teeth are replaced by permanent teeth in a few years. Around 5-7 years of age, the milk teeth start falling out. Lower incisors (front teeth) appear first and then the upper incisors.
During this phase, kids might seem bit irritated or unwell as the tooth passes through the gums (think of it as tearing the gums). This painful process might lead to sore gums. They might like to chew on things at this time.
Permanent teeth
So there comes a phase around 5-7 years of age when teeth start falling and they are replaced by permanent teeth. The teeth which appeared first will be the one to fall out first.
Let me share my experience first and then we will talk about some tips related to teething journey from baby to permanent teeth..
My experience
My child got her first milk teeth when she was around 8-9 months old. The first milk teeth to appear was lower incisor(front teeth) which usually appears first in all babies. By 2nd birthday, she had almost all her teeth.
Permanent teeth started appearing around 5 years. A few months after her 5th birthday, she came crying and showed her teeth. It was one of the lower teeth and it was quite loose. I explained to her that this was a normal growth phase and happens with everyone and she will be getting a whole new set of teeth now just like she gets a new set of clothes. Then my daughter mentioned something about the ‘tooth fairy’ who will come and get the teeth and give some gift in return. I didn’t have much idea about this so I googled this kiddy myth.
How did it come out?
In 24 hours, it was too loose to come out. We pulled it by hand only. But some people tie a thread on it to pull it out. Little blood came out and in some time my daughter was fine.
Now she was excited about the tooth fairy and the gift she would receive. She kept the teeth below her pillow. I asked her what the tooth fairy brings. She said it can be anything such as stars, chocolates, or cookies. Thankfully I had a chocolate pack at home. The next morning, the teeth were replaced by chocolate and my daughter was super happy.
I thought to myself this process will be repeated frequently now and I need to keep gifts handy.
Within a week, she came and showed other wiggly wobbly teeth. This time it took 2 weeks and I was worried so I called my paediatrician. She assured me that sometimes it takes up to one month time for teeth to fall. A few days after that it came out. And in a week another tooth was wiggly wobbly again.
Teething tips
So this was my experience and let me share a few tips regarding teething journey.
- The milk teeth phase might be uncomfortable for babies. Try distracting your baby from the pain or give cool things such as cucumber, rusks or teething gels.
- Start brushing teeth twice a day by around 1 year of age. Better dental hygiene practices will keep cavities and decays away.
- Don’t be in a hurry to pull the loose tooth out. Explain the process and reason to the child well. Then inform the child to keep pushing the loose teeth little by little with the help of the tongue. When the teeth are too loose, tell the child that it might pain a little and there might be slight bleeding and pull the teeth out.Don’t pull the teeth forcibly.
- Milk teeth start to fall when the permanent teeth start pushing them out. So this means the permanent teeth will start showing within a few weeks.
- Keep an eye on your kids teeth at around 6 years of age. At times, any teeth might get loose and kid won’t understand. Then the permanent teeth will start erupting behind and dental intervention will be required.
- After the teeth are pulled, make the child rinse his/ her mouth slowly with water.
- Sometimes teeth start falling back to back while sometimes they have a good gap.
- After the milk teeth fall, there is a gap of a few weeks till permanent teeth come in. In my daughter’s case, it was around 2-3 months.
- Avoid too much sugary stuff as they may damage teeth. Don’t think that milk teeth are temporary so not much care is needed.
- Before discarding the teeth, take permission from your child. The tooth fairy might be coming to get the teeth and if you do something with the teeth, then all the best for the danger that awaits you. Also, keep some gifts ready on behalf of the tooth fairy.
Parenting is not an easy job which you must have understood by now. All the best for this phase and handling tooth fairy duties well. I hope you enjoyed this blog on teething journey from baby to permanent teeth..
Do share your views about this blog and share it if you feel this is helpful. Don’t forget to check out other blogs such as
Growth parameters in 0-2 years kids
Why can’t a girl child complete a family?
If you have a lil one who loves books, then please have a look at my books.
