What Every Soon-to-Be Parent Should Know About Infant Tooth Development
Our teeth remain a permanent asset to us our entire lives, and what many people might not realize is that they start to develop even before we are born. This is why it’s important for expecting parents to understand exactly what the growing baby needs for healthy tooth development. According to Stanford Children’s Health, the mother should maintain a good, nutritional diet, as this is crucial in tooth development. The diet should include, “adequate amounts of calcium, phosphorus, vitamin C and vitamin D.” In addition, the source warns that certain medicines (like Tetracycline) should not be taken during pregnancy, as this can cause discoloration in your infant’s developing teeth.
More Crucial Things to Know about Your Baby’s Teeth
There are four main parts to a human tooth: the Enamel, which is the hard outer-layer of the tooth, Dentin, or the inner-layer, Pulp, which is soft tissue within the tooth containing the nerve, blood supply and ability to produce Dentin, and finally, the Root, or the part that is secured into the jaw. Humans produce two sets of teeth in their lifetime–baby, or primary teeth and permanent teeth. As far as the eruption, or “coming in” of baby teeth goes, it’ actually different for every child, but typically it initially begins around 6 to 12 months. But, although every child is different when growing their teeth, the general timeline of each specific tooth eruption is relatively the same, so that’s why it’s important to refer to a baby teeth chart for a better understanding of the process, as a whole.
When to Expect Your Baby’s Teeth to Come in
There are several helpful and credible sources on the internet which include an infant teeth chart, giving you a basic rundown of when you can expect to see specific teeth come in and at how many months. Among the many crucial parts of your unborn baby that is rapidly starting to develop by 6 months of pregnancy is the beginning phases of teeth development. According to Stanford, 6 weeks of gestation is when the basic substance of the tooth starts to form, while the hard tissue surrounding the tooth develops at 3 to 4 months of gestation. However, the next stages of the infant tooth development process won’t begin until after your baby is born and when the teeth actually start protruding through the gum-line (around 6-12mo.) By age 3, your child will have grown 20 primary teeth– including the Central Incisors, Lateral Incisors, Canines, First Molars and Second Molars. The Central Incisors are the first teeth to erupt–the bottom erupting at 6 to 10 months while the top at 8 to 12. The Lateral Incisors usually come in between 9 to 13 months for the top set and at 10 to 16 months for the bottom. The Canines will typically begin to erupt at 16 to 22 months (top) and between 17 to 23 months (bottom). Finally, the First Molars can be expected to appear between 13 to 19 months (top) and around 14 to 18 months (bottom), while the second set of Molars won’t show until at least 25 to 33 months (top) and 23 to 31 months (bottom).
So, teething is obviously a crucial and ongoing phase in your baby’s development as a whole, now start examining an infant teeth chart today to familiarize yourself on what primary teeth to expect and when.
