I can’t tell you how many times I’m surprised when parents question the validity of getting dental treatment on ‘baby’ teeth. Where it is true that the primary (baby) teeth are temporary and will all fall out, it takes six years
I can’t tell you how many times I’m surprised when parents question the validity of getting dental treatment on ‘baby’ teeth. Where it is true that the primary (baby) teeth are temporary and will all fall out, it takes six years from the point of the first primary tooth from being lost (at around the age of six ) to the last primary molar from exfoliating (at around the age of twelve). So aside from the obvious importance for eating, appearance and speech, the baby teeth are essential to help guide the permanent teeth, which are developing under the primary teeth, into their correct location.
In fact, primary teeth are so important that some of us (pediatric dentists) have spent an additional two years, after completing a grueling four years of dental school, to study ‘baby’ teeth. Permanent and primary teeth are actually very different from each other and differ in many ways other than just size.
Firstly, they form at varying stages in a child’s life. The primary teeth start to form at the beginning of life, starting at six weeks of gestation and completely form by the start of the second trimester. The permanent teeth, on the other hand, start to develop after the child’s first birthday and continue to develop as the child grows.
Secondly, the anatomic