Whether your baby is 6 months old or 6 years old, it seems like new teeth are always coming in! Tooth eruption starts in infancy around 6 months old but this can vary from child to child – some children start teething earlier and some later, but every eruption pattern is different from person to person.
First time teethers may experience some discomfort when teeth start to erupt. Gently massaging your baby’s gums or supervising them as they chew on a teething toy or wet cloth can help alleviate some of the soreness (at Bite Size Pediatric Dentistry, we recommend placing a teething toy or wet cloth in the freezer before!)
Some common signs of a teething baby are drooling, chewing on hard objects, gum swelling and tenderness and disruption of sleep.
We have 20 baby teeth, also known as primary teeth. Most children finish teething around age 2.5 or 3 and then the process starts again around age 5. Around this time, baby teeth will get loose and exfoliate – this process typically begins with our bottom front teeth – and adult teeth will start to erupt in their place. Most children have all permanent teeth present around age 12 and 13, not including wisdom teeth (3rd molars), which typically erupt later (late teenage years-20s).
At Bite Size Pediatric Dentistry in Frankfort, IL, we check for loose and erupting teeth at each dental visit to help our patients and parents prepare for new teeth and how to care for them. To get a general idea of dental eruption patterns for both baby and adult teeth, check out our eruption timeline below.
*Eruption patterns are unique to each person and may be slightly different from the timelines shown.
