Baby Teeth: The Little Details

Do you know what baby teeth are? They’re the first set of teeth that show up on the scene as your little one teethes and a smile begins to appear. While you might already be familiar with these details of children’s oral health, you might not know very much more about first teeth. For instance, are they significant or do they act more as unimportant placeholders? How long are they going to hang around? We have some helpful answers, so you know what to expect.

What They Do

Baby teeth do more than just give your child a very cute new feature. As a result, it is important that you remember caring for your little one’s smile with home care as well as professional dental visits is just as significant as your own adult care. The details regarding the purpose of these primary teeth follow:

• Your child needs a full set of teeth to begin learning to speak and forming words correctly. Without these teeth, speech development will not progress.
• Teeth show up to allow your child to begin eating a more varied diet.
• Permanent teeth will follow primary teeth, using them as protection and as a guide.

What You Can Look For

When your child reaches about six months of age, you can expect teeth to begin appearing. These baby teeth with begin at the front of your child’s smile (usually on the bottom) and will continue filling in from front to back until your child is around 33 months. These teeth will serve your child through early childhood years until about six year old when they begin to shed and your child’s permanent, lifelong smile starts to erupt.