Baby teeth fall out to make way for permanent teeth to grow. This process continues until the  final molars which are the wisdom teeth are in. This can take until your child is anywhere from age 17 to 21.

A child has 20 baby teeth which often come in by age   3. They usually fall in the same order they came in. This means the lower center teeth are the first to come out . This is usually around age 5 to 7. The top center pair is the next.

A baby tooth typically doesn’t loosen until the permanent teeth pushes it up to take its place. It is possible for kids to lose their baby teeth before the permanent teeth erupt  especially because of a gum disease or accident.  In this case, a pediatric dentist will sometimes put  a custom fit plastic placeholder  in until the adult teeth is ready to emerge. This is done to prevent future spacing problems.

Some children lose their teeth as early as 4 years and as late as 7 years. If your child loses her teeth before 4, consult your dentist to make sure that there is no underlying problems. Generally the younger a child is when the teeth came in , the earlier they fall out.

NOTE

• Remind the child to gently wiggly a wobbly  teeth.
• The child should not yank a tooth before its ready to fall out on its own.
• A tooth that refuses to come out may be removed by the dentist even though this  is hardly the case.
• The new or permanent  teeth are less white and  look bigger than the baby teeth. They also have more ridges  because they haven’t been used yet for biting and chewing.
• In rare cases, a couple of new teeth come in before the old ones are gone, creating two rows of teeth.  This is a temporary stage and known as shark teeth.