Growth & Development

During childhood, a variety of factors can affect your child’s smile. Their teeth will go through many stages of development that have an impact on their dental health. During these stages, it is essential to ensure that their teeth are healthy and growing properly for their future. At Miami Children’s Smiles, Dr. Asensi and her team specialize in pediatric dental care that focuses on childhood tooth and jaw development to make sure their smile stays healthy for the rest of their life.

How We Evaluate Your Child’s Teeth

Our teeth develop over time to accommodate for our own body growth as we age. As our jawline grows, our bodies will need more nutrients to help supplement that growth, and with that comes the development of our permanent adult teeth. For our teeth to develop into permanent adult teeth, our teeth go through various stages, including:

• Tooth Buds: Before your child is ever born, their baby teeth develop inside their gum line. As one of the first parts of their bodies to form inside the mother, they need excellent nutrition during this time to make sure that their baby’s teeth develop healthily. In some cases, babies can be born with a bit of tooth bud showing in their smile.
• Baby Teeth Eruption: Throughout the first few years of your child’s life, their baby teeth will slowly erupt from the gum line, giving them the ability to chew foods and gain more nutrition as they age. By the age of 7, they’ll have all of their baby teeth in place, and it’s important that by six months old that your child gets their first dental visit to make sure that their teeth are growing in healthy.
• Baby To Primary Teeth: Once they reach the age of seven, their permanent adult teeth will begin to come in. During this stage, their permanent teeth will grow in and cause the baby teeth to fall out to make room for the adult teeth. By the age of 16, your child should have all of their adult teeth in place. It is also important for regular checkups to be scheduled to make sure that these teeth are correctly aligned.
• Wisdom Teeth: Once your child reaches adulthood, their wisdom teeth will come in, and those wisdom teeth will need to be extracted to protect your child’s teeth from misalignment and poor jaw movement.

For this transition from baby teeth to adult teeth, regular dental visits are important for your child during these stages, as these visits ensure that your child’s teeth stay healthy. Throughout all of these stages, our team at Miami Children’s Smiles works to help manage your child’s growth through diagnosis, orthodontic treatments, and regular cleanings to keep their smile clean and happy.

Contact Miami Children’s Smiles Today!

For us, pediatric dentistry means caring for your child through all stages of their life. We specialize in multiple areas of dental care to give your child an inclusive, gentle, and comforting experience at our office. For more information about our dental care and services, contact our practice today to learn more!