Which Baby Teeth Do Children Lose?
Losing baby teeth can be both an exciting and an anxiety-provoking time for children. The excitement of a visit from the Tooth Fairy is balanced with the fact that something in their body is falling out -- a phenomenon some kids like, while others dread.
Losing baby teeth can be both an exciting and an anxiety-provoking time for children. The excitement of a visit from the Tooth Fairy is balanced with the fact that something in their body is falling out -- a phenomenon some kids like, while others dread. Everyone loses their baby teeth, although exactly when a child loses his baby teeth varies from child to child.
The Incisors
The incisors are the front teeth, the four that appear in the front and middle of your child's mouth on the top and on the four corresponding bottom teeth. The American Dental Association explains that the incisors are often the first teeth a baby will get, with the bottom lateral, front-most incisors erupting before the top teeth. The average age to cut primary incisors is 6 to 12 months old, but some children get them earlier. Likewise, these are usually the first teeth to fall out. Most kids lose their top and bottom baby incisors between 6 and 7 years old.
The Cuspids
The cuspids, also called canines, are the pointy-shaped teeth next to the incisors. Looking in the mirror, you'll see your child's cuspids toward the middle-back of your child's mouth. Your child has a primary and permanent set of cuspids, which are on the left and right sides of your child's mouth, so these are also baby teeth that he will lose during childhood. Generally, the eruption of the canines begins between the ages of 16 and 22 months, according to the ADA, but as with the incisors, some children cut these teeth earlier. You child is most likely to lose his four cuspids, the upper and lower cupids, in his middle school years, between the ages of 9 and 12.
The First and Second Molars
Children have two sets of molars that are baby teeth, aptly named first molars and second molars. These teeth are located in the back of the mouth. Your child has a total of eight primary molars that erupt during the second and third years of life. The primary molars are shed, usually in the order in which they were cut, between the ages of 10 and 12.