5 Big Facts About Little Teeth

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This month, we turn our focus to primary teeth with our cover story on the advancements made in pediatric dentistry. For children, there is a lot of excitement around the loss of baby teeth, including a visit from the Tooth Fairy and some money under their pillows. But primary teeth actually serve a few important functions that many may not realize. Here are 5 interesting facts about baby teeth.

1. Present at Birth

Twenty primary teeth are already present in the jaws at birth.¹ They typically appear when a baby is 6 months to 1 year old.¹ Most children have their full set of primary teeth by the age of 3.¹

2. Erupt in Order

Baby teeth usually erupt in a specific order.¹ Every child is different, but typically breakthrough starts with their central incisors in the lower jaw, followed by the central incisors of the upper jaw.¹

3. Key Differences

Primary teeth differ from adult or permanent teeth in several key ways²:

• Primary teeth enamel is usually thinner, often making them appear whiter.
• Primary teeth are smaller than permanent teeth and the front baby teeth can come in with bumps that wear off over time.
• The roots of baby teeth are shorter and thinner because they are designed to fall out.

4. Important Functions

Baby teeth not only help a child speak clearly and chew naturally but also provide a path for adult teeth to follow when they are ready to erupt.³

5. The Tooth Fairy Myth

Rituals surrounding the loss of baby teeth are not a new phenomenon. Every culture has its own customs, including burning the tooth, burying it in a hole or wall, or even swallowing it.⁴ Anthropologists have found that these customs are parallel with a society’s burial rituals.⁴ The closest comparison to the American Tooth Fairy comes from an 18th-century French fairy tale called “La Bonne Petite Souris” (“The Good Little Mouse”), although other myths are thought to date back much further.⁴