From Infant to Young Adult: Your Child’s Teething Stages and Erupting Adult Teeth

One of the most common questions we hear from parents is concerns about their baby’s teething timeline. As a general rule, teething begins at about 6 to 10 months old and lasts until around 25 to 33 months. Then every two to four months, a set of two new teeth come in. Toddlers will typically get all of their baby or primary teeth by age 3, with a total of 20 tiny chompers. Bear in mind that these are average numbers; your child may get their teeth earlier or later, much of that depending on your family tree.

The Five Standard Teething Stages

• Stage 1 (0-6 months): Your baby already has 20 baby teeth waiting under their gums! You will start noticing drooling when their first tooth comes in.
• Stage 2 (6 months): Around this time, your baby’s lower central incisors will start emerging through the gums in the lower jaw.
• Stage 3 (10-14 months): This age is when your baby’s primary molars start breaking through the gums, causing discomfort and drooling. Before that, they will get their upper central incisors, upper lateral incisors, lower lateral incisors, and upper first molars.
• Stage 4 (16-22 months): At this stage, your baby’s canines, wedged between their incisors and molars on the top and bottom jaw, finally break through the gums. They will also get their lower first molars, upper canines, and lower canines.
• Stage 5 (25-33 months): By now, your toddler’s upper and lower second molars will emerge through the gums. These hurt the most because of their larger surface.

While teething is no fun for anyone, it is a good thing they do not all erupt all at once. The stages give them time to adjust to their new chompers as their teeth emerge in pairs.

How To Tell When Your Baby Is Teething

Although excessive drooling and fussing are the top teething indicators, there are other things you should be on the lookout for:

• Difficulty sleeping
• Red, painful, or swollen gums
• Diminished appetite
• Mouth rash
• Constant biting or chewing hard items
• Coughing and warmer temperature
• Rubbing their cheek, pulling their ear

Soothing and comforting your baby through their teething times is very important. Tips to give your baby the pain relief they need include lightly massaging their gums with a clean finger can help relieve discomfort. A cold washcloth or teether (not frozen) can also help! Your baby may feel better chewing on a teething biscuit or cold vegetable. For nighttime relief, an over-the-counter pain reliever for babies can help. Baby acetaminophen or ibuprofen often have good results.

What Can You Expect For Your Child’s First Adult Teeth?

Between the age of 6 and 7, your child’s first adult upper and lower molars come in behind their early (two-year) molars. While they come through, your child can experience cheek biting, headaches, jaw pain, a low-grade fever, and swelling. Rinsing their mouth with warm saltwater and ibuprofen can help; also eating and drinking soft, chilled foods like smoothies, cooled mashed potatoes, vegetables, or applesauce.

Usually, by the age of 13, your child’s remaining teeth will emerge:

• Four central incisors
• Four lateral incisors
• Eight premolars
• Four canines
• Twelve molars

And finally, their last permanent teeth, wisdom teeth, will show anywhere from 17 to 21 years old. Since these teeth are not necessary for your child to chew, they can be safely removed. It helps their bite stay healthy, and those hardest to clean teeth don’t decay or suffer needless cavities.

Pediatric Dental Care

Making sure your child adopts strong oral hygiene habits like daily brushing and flossing and coming in for routine cleanings and exams will help their adult teeth stay healthy throughout their lives. Your child’s smile is important to our team! Whether your child is teething, has a toothache, or painful wisdom tooth, please call us for help with your child’s growing smile.