When will my child lose his or her first tooth?

The weeks leading up to the loss of a child’s first tooth, are an exciting time for both kids and parents. This is an important mile marker in the road from infant to adulthood, and one that deserves attention. Many parents are unsure when to expect their child to experience the loss of his or her first tooth. While it is impossible to pinpoint the exact time frame for each individual, most kids will lose their first tooth around the age of six.

Why Kids Loose Teeth

Baby teeth, or deciduous teeth, are lost when a child’s permanent teeth begin to emerge. These “adult” teeth need room to grow, and will slowly push the baby teeth out of their way. For most kids, the first tooth to come out will be a lower, or mandibular, incisor, one of the bottom front two teeth. This tooth may become loose over the course of several weeks, and this is often a long process through which a child will wiggle and nudge the tooth with their tongue or fingers.  Your child may even say the tooth hurts when he or she bites or chews with it.  This discomfort will subside when the too comes out or exfoliates.

Should I Pull the Tooth or Not?

If your child is eager to pull the tooth, simply cover the tooth with a piece of gauze or a tissue and give a quick twist and a tug. If he or she insists on letting the tooth come out naturally, sit back and enjoy the wait. Some kids will worry about a loose tooth for quite a while, until almost nothing is left holding the tooth in place! Either approach is perfectly normal and parents should allow their kids to guide the process, especially for the first loose tooth.

Talking to Kids about Brushing Their Teeth

This is an excellent time to talk with your child about the importance of proper dental hygiene. After all, baby teeth come and go, but the permanent teeth that follow are intended to be, well, permanent. Review proper brushing and flossing practices, and follow up with regular parental “inspections.” It takes time and practice to master proper dental care routines, and parents are wise to broach the issue at this time, when kids are very focused on a loose tooth.

What If Baby Teeth Fall Out Too Slowly?

Parents who are concerned that a child is not losing baby teeth at a normal rate, or who have questions about other dental issues, should make an appointment to meet with their kids' dentist. This is also a great time to discuss whether fluoride supplements are appropriate.
Kids should come in for a dental checkup and cleaning twice a year, which can be key to addressing dental issues before they become a problem. Regular visits to a kids' dentist will give children a positive impression of dental care, which is important establishing a healthy dental care routine.  

Dental X-Rays Help Keep Kids' Teeth Healthy

If you're like many parents, you may wonder whether or how often your children need dental X-rays. Here at Playtime Dental, we believe that children's dental X-rays are an important tool for finding hard-to-see cavities and diagnosing oral disease in its early stages, when it's easiest to treat. So make sure your kids' dentist gives your kids X-rays as needed.

What's the Purpose of Dental X-rays?

Dental X-rays, like other types of X-rays, use beams of X-ray radiation to take black-and-white photos that show your child's bones, teeth, and other oral structures including the roots of the teeth. There are several types of dental X-rays, including:

• Bitewings: used to take X-rays of the back teeth to show cavities between the teeth and bone levels
• Periapicals: used to take photos of the teeth & roots to look for cavities and/or other pathology (i.e. infection)
• Panoramic X-rays: used to take photos of the entire jaw and all of the teeth. Used to monitor growth and development as well as look for pathology (i.e. infection). This x-ray is not good for diagnosing cavities
• Cone beam CTs: used to take three-dimensional pictures of the jaw. Used for orthodontic, oral surgery and implant treatment planning

How Often Do Children Need Dental X-Rays?

It used to be the case that dentists recommended yearly dental X-rays for all children. But the LA Times reports that those guidelines have changed. Dental X-rays are no longer treated as a routine diagnostic procedure to be performed at every exam. They are administered based on each child's needs. Your kids' dentist may see no need to take dental X-rays if your children have no evidence of dental disease. Children with a higher risk of dental disease may need X-rays every six months, while low-risk kids may only need them every 12 to 18 months. These guidelines minimize kids' exposure to X-ray radiation.

Why Do Children Need Dental X-Rays?

Dental X-rays can help your kids' dentist find problems with the teeth and the jaw that aren't immediately apparent from the oral exam. They can also help dentists spot any cavities that might be growing between the teeth. X-rays help dentists diagnose oral disease reliably and quickly. This is important because keeping your kids' mouth healthy keeps their whole body healthy. Thanks to X-rays, kids today enjoy better oral and overall health than ever before.

The Cons of Oral Piercings for Teens

After months and months of begging, you finally gave in and let your teenager get an oral piercing. Now your kid may be the biggest hit at school, but in the meantime, your trepidations have returned. As a good parent, you're right to feel some reservations about your teen's tongue piercing. This can actually be a big source of trouble for the mouth and could even cause dental problems and diseases.

The biggest and most obvious risk, as with all piercings, is that of infection.  The mouth contains millions of bacteria and unlike a skin infection in the ear or nose caused from an earring, if your teen's mouth gets an infection from a piercing, the area will swell up significantly and be very painful.  In the case of a large infection, your child’s airway could even be restricted, which could be deadly.

Even if your kid doesn't have an infection from his or her piercing, other oral problems can and do occur more subtly over time. First of all, constantly exposing the teeth to the metal of the piercing can strip away enamel, whether it's a ball-shaped barbell or a traditional ring. Once enamel is gone, it doesn't return. The teeth may look unattractive and are at a higher risk of developing cavities.

Besides that, your teenager can also find himself saddled with localized periodontal disease that they most likely wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Periodontal disease occurs when the gums recede.  When the gums start to recede, the bone that holds the teeth in is typically lost as well and your kid's teeth can possibly fall out in the advanced stages if they develop this disease.

Other little annoyances can occur with an oral piercing as well, such as an increase of drooling, increased chance of cracking or chipping the teeth or dental restorations, bad breath if the piercing is not cleaned multiple times daily, and the development of a speech impediment. More seriously, if a tongue piercing is not done carefully, nerve damage is also a possibility.  This can affect the person’s ability to taste, talk and move the tongue.


Parents that are having second thoughts about their teen's oral piercing can come by and visit Playtime Dental to discuss the next steps, including removal. Appropriate for children of all ages, the atmosphere at this kids' dentist is designed to make young patients feel at ease as they learn how to take better care of their teeth and mouths.