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When Do Kids Start Losing Teeth Plus Helpful Tips For Oral Care

When Do Kids Start Losing Teeth

Parents get excited to see those first baby teeth erupt through the gum line when their babies are little. 

However, it won’t be too many years before the first loose tooth occurs and the primary teeth fall out so permanent teeth can take their place. 

An idea of when your child’s baby teeth fall out can prepare you to explain what is going on and transition to your next role in your child’s life: the tooth fairy.

This article will discuss when do kids start losing teeth, how many primary teeth fall out, how many adult teeth grow in, and in what order your child’s teeth may fall out.

Losing baby teeth is exciting and scary for some kids and parents. It’s never a bad idea to be a little bit prepared.

When do kids start losing teeth

Primary teeth. Deciduous teeth. Both of these are fancy terms for baby teeth. 

As your child loses a baby tooth, a permanent tooth is usually right underneath it, waiting to come in. 

Knowing when to expect this process to start would benefit most parents.

The first loose primary tooth

Losing baby teeth is a big deal, and for some, almost a rite of passage from little kid to big kid status. 

Loose teeth are shown to parents, classmates, siblings, grandparents, and just about everyone a child encounters. 

Those wiggly teeth are played with, tugged on, and obsessed over until that loose tooth falls out.

Kids lose teeth in much the same way kids develop, which is to say it just depends on the kid. Your oldest child may see their baby teeth fall out starting from age four, while your next child may not have a loose tooth until age seven!

Average age a child loses a first tooth

Losing baby teeth will most likely happen to your child for the first time around the age of 5 or 6. Most kids start losing teeth at this age. 

It can be alarming for your little one, especially if they aren’t aware that loose teeth are a normal and natural occurrence.

If you have a child who is turning five soon, you may want to talk with them about the difference between baby teeth and permanent teeth and that they will most likely lose their first baby tooth sometime in the upcoming year.

This will help to keep the shock and fear down to a minimum. There’s nothing like the trauma of a child believing that they are hurt or don’t have healthy teeth if one suddenly falls out and they were never warned ahead of time that they would lose their baby teeth!

When Do Kids Start Losing Teeth

What teeth do kids lose?

For permanent teeth to come in, the baby teeth must come out. However, just like how your child’s baby teeth came in in an identifiable pattern, they’ll also most likely fall out in a pattern.

First in, first out

Your child’s teeth come in one or two at a time, and that’s the same way they’ll come out of the mouth, barring injury or tooth decay. 

When your child’s adult tooth starts to push through and erupt through the gums, it pushes the primary tooth out of its socket and falls out.

The two bottom front teeth are most likely the first baby teeth that come in. They are also the baby teeth that fall out first and be replaced with adult teeth. These teeth are called lower central incisors.

The next teeth to go are usually the top front teeth or the upper central incisors. While these are the next to fall out, your child’s permanent teeth in these spots may take some time. This is the period of the goofy-looking toothless smiles in pictures.

The next two to fall out are the two on either side of the bottom two teeth. Children lose their baby teeth in this order because, typically, this is the order they came in. If your child’s teething order is not typical, this particular order may not apply to your child.

The next two teeth to fall out are the lateral incisors, which are the teeth on either side of the two top front teeth. These eight teeth are usually gone by the time your child is seven or eight years old; however, as mentioned earlier, the age that your child will lose their first tooth may depend on several factors.

How many teeth do kids lose?

Adult teeth take the place of baby teeth in the mouth, and most of us know that we have 32 permanent teeth. However, some people are unaware that you don’t have the same number of adult teeth as primary teeth.

Less baby teeth

It may boggle your mind that there are more permanent teeth than baby ones. After all, each permanent tooth is much bigger than a baby tooth.

You have 20 primary chompers to lose, and an adult tooth will replace each one, and you lose teeth.

Due to the size difference in teeth, you may be waiting a while to see that first tooth that’s meant to replace the first lost tooth. There simply isn’t room.

Is it crucial for kids to brush their teeth if they’re going to fall out?

Your child’s dentist puts a lot of emphasis on brushing well and keeping each primary tooth as healthy as possible. You may wonder why they bother since those teeth don’t stick around.

Proper oral health is vital to start early. Learning to brush, floss, and keep your teeth clean early in life can help to prevent gum disease, tooth decay, and cavities later in life. 

Good oral hygiene is critical and should be started as soon as your child gets their first tooth.

When Do Kids Start Losing Teeth

Ways to prevent cavities for young children

The American Dental Association urges parents to start brushing a child’s teeth twice daily when they get their first tooth. 

This will encourage good brushing habits and also helps ensure that your child’s mouth is less prone to painful infections. It also helps lessen tooth eruption pain as they get more teeth.

There are many other things that you can do to keep your child’s teeth healthy and to instill good habits in your child as they get older.

1. Visit a pediatric dentist

A pediatric dentist knows all about your child’s smile and is prepared to deal with nervousness and the movement of a small child during an oral examination. 

Taking your child for a check-up and cleaning at a young age will teach your little one not to fear the dentist and can help them to look forward to these visits in the future.

2. No sugary drinks or juice in bed

Bottle rot is a hotly debated topic that centers around most babies who have moved past formula or breast milk and have started drinking whole milk or fruit juices. 

While water is the more tooth-friendly option (and the most cost-effective), many pediatricians urge parents to start their kids on whole milk at twelve months of age.

Whole milk, as well as fruit juices, contain sugar. Allowing your child to go to bed with a bottle or sippy cup full of either of these liquids means that the sugar will likely sit on the child’s teeth as they sleep.

This can cause weak teeth, cavities, and a condition known as bottle rot, resulting in your child’s teeth discoloring, dying, and breaking off easily. 

These teeth can infect the gums, cause fevers and illness, and sometimes require oral surgery to extract.

Do your children a favor, and keep the bottle or cup out of the crib or bed at bedtime.

Children tooth loss

A fun fact about children is that they are all different. Your child may have different patterns of tooth loss or be a bit older or younger than the average child when it comes to when they will start losing teeth. 

For the most part, it’s all considered normal. However, if you are concerned, set up an appointment with a pediatric dentist and play it safe with an oral examination.

Hopefully, this article has given you some insight into the world of the teeth that humans grow, lose, and replace. 

Remember to teach your kids that those permanent teeth are the only set they will ever have; taking care of them is crucial to keeping them later in life.

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