Changing teeth

The essence of changing teeth is that the 20 milk teeth fall out and 32 permanent teeth come to their places. Milk teeth period is between age 2 and 6, the mixed teeth period is between age 6 and 12.

Unnoticed permanent teeth

The first permanent teeth are the so call No.6 teeth, they appear behind the last milk- grinding teeth at the age of 6. It does not replace a milk tooth, there is no falling out milk tooth, but a lot of people considers it to a milk tooth. As no proper attention is paid to these teeth they start to decay even before penetrating the gum properly.

Changing teeth 

The next step of visible teeth changing is the change of the corner teeth, than the rest of the teeth is changing in a undefined order: until the age of 8: bottom- upper corner teeth (8 in total), after age of 9: biscupids and dog- teeth (total 8+4), then the second grinder, the so called No.7 teeth (4 pcs) and finally the wisdom teeth (4 pcs). Penetration of wisdom teeth might be influenced by the lack of place; it also might happen that they stay in the bone.

Deviation in time

There might be individual differences in the teeth penetration. If the milk teeth are coming out late, the permanent teeth are also coming out late. Unfortunately I have to say to those mums how are visiting me and complaining about the colors of the teeth (permanent teeth are not as white as the milk teeth) that this is natural.

If there are problems with the teeth changing

In a normal case the roots of the milk teeth work off and the teeth fall out. I am a believer of help if there is not chance for the movement and if the gum is inflamed around the milk tooth, as cleaning the teeth is difficult. It often happens that the permanent teeth are coming behind the milk corner teeth. After removing the milk teeth, if there is enough space, they will come to their final places. If no permanent teeth appear on the place of the lost milk teeth, it is good to examine the reason. Problem can be there are more teeth or there are not enough teeth seed. These can be examined easily with an X- ray.

With regular control (max. half a year) we can keep track of the tooth changing and if it is needed we start the orthodontia. The early recognition and treatment is really important!