What are primary teeth?

Just because baby teeth are temporary, it does not mean that you should not take good care of them. Baby teeth or Primary teeth are responsible for helping in the development of muscles for the jaw and mandible. They serve as a reference to the tongue to allow your child to speak and have the proper phonetics. They allow to chew and process food for the right digestion and develop the right taste for healthy foods in the future.

While serving all the purposes mentioned above, primary teeth also served as the space keepers until adult teeth are ready to erupt.

How do I know that primary teeth are coming?

This is what is going to happen when your baby is ready for the eruption of the first baby teeth:

You will notice an increase in drooling, changes in sleeping habits, loss of taste or refusal of certain foods, your baby may become fussy, bring hands to the mouth or bring every object to the mouth.

Lower central incisors usually come first, followed by upper central incisors, this typically happens between 4 to 8 months of age.

Thereafter laterals incisors will follow. Around the first birthday to a year and a half, the first molars will start to erupt. Eruption of molar teeth may come with some discomfort and loss of appetite. In the final stage of the development of primary teeth, between a year and a half to two years, the canines will appear to finally complete the full smile of your precious little princess or knight but wait, we are not done. Between two and three years of age, the second molars will come to play the important role of extra capacity to process more foods in a more efficient way. Now you are done, your child has a full set of Primary teeth, Congratulations!

We want you to relax and to take only two facts about all this information:

First, know that every child is different, and these time frames are not written in stone. Tooth eruption is the result of many factors that goes from genetics to breastfeeding habits during the first months of life.

Tooth eruption is a process that unfolds before your eyes with incredible speed. The more teeth in the mouth, the more you need to maintain and monitor. We recommend that you, not your child, brush the teeth of your child after every meal and, come to visit us twice a year.

Next, in our section for mixed dentition we will talk about the transition between primary teeth and permanent teeth.

The important aspect here to remember is that losing a first or second molar prematurely, say for example before 5 or 7 years of age may have implications if the space is not reserved for the adult tooth. More about this in the next section.