How many milk teeth does a child have?
Dr. Suresh Amarnathan, BDS.,
Most of the kids will have a complete set of twenty milk teeth by the age of three years. When your kid turns four or seven years old, these milk teeth will start their shedding phase so that they can make way for the permanent dentition in the dental arch.
Your child’s milk tooth begins to form during the prenatal phase and in mostly don’t erupt until they sixteen weeks or till they are one year old.
What are baby teeth?
Almost all kids have 20 milk teeth. They have ten teeth on the upper dental arch and ten teeth on the lower dental arch. Milk teeth also act as space maintainers for the permanent teeth to erupt after your child’s milk teeth complete their shedding phase. These baby teeth erupt in a particular sequence before they fall out. They should be taken care of till the permanent teeth erupt as they are important for chewing, speech and formation of the dental arch as the surrounding bones form around them.
when do milk teeth start falling?
Your child will start the teething phase once they turn six months of age. The scientific used term used during these primary teeth period is called deciduous teeth dentition. They eventually start the shedding phase just the way leaves fall of from deciduous leafs start falling out during autumn and form a new set of green leafs thereafter. Most parents call these milk teeth as baby teeth, though they are also commonly called primary teeth by a Pediatric Dentist.
When should you start brushing your baby’s teeth?
Practising a healthy diet, oral care habits and brushing regimens should start immediately after your child begins the teething stage. At around six years of age most kids begin loosing their milk teeth, which are sooner or later replaced by the permanent dentition. This permanent tooth eruption process might continue till their teenage.
As a parent you should start cleaning your child’s milk teeth by wiping them with a thin cloth, cotton roll or by brushing them with a soft bristled toothbrush and filtered water. At around 18 months you can start using a small pea sized amount of kids toothpaste with a low fluoride concentration to brush your child’s milk teeth. The child should be closely monitored to spit out the tooth paste as swallowing it is common with young kids.
