CONSULATE
Consulate Dental Plans – Facts About Your Child’s Baby Teeth
Proper care of a child’s deciduous (baby) teeth is very important as these teeth hold space for the future eruption of permanent teeth. Here are some facts to keep in mind.
1) If a baby tooth decays or is removed too early, the space necessary for the permanent teeth is lost and can only be regained through orthodontic treatment.
2) Infected baby teeth can cause the permanent teeth to develop improperly resulting in stains, pits, and weaker teeth. Primary teeth are important in speech development.
Primary teeth aid in chewing food properly, promoting healthy nutrition. Most children begin losing their baby teeth around the ages five or six–usually the front teeth first. They continue to lose baby teeth until the age of 12 or 13 when all of the permanent teeth finally come through, except for the third molars (wisdom teeth). These molars begin to appear around age 17 to 21.