It takes a few years for the baby teeth to grow in. Then it takes a few years for them to fall out. What is the deal with these short-term teeth?
You probably got your first baby tooth when you were around six month old. And all 20 of your primary teeth, or baby teeth, were probably in place by the time you reached the age of three. Then a funny thing happened. When you were about six or seven, your primary teeth began to fall out.
So what is the point of having these little teeth? Well, the main job of baby teeth is to hold a place in your mouth for your permanent teeth, or grown-up teeth. If a baby tooth is lost too early, the teeth beside it may move into that space. Then your permanent teeth may come in crooked or crowded.
When a permanent tooth starts to come in, it pushes on the root of the primary tooth above it. Your primary tooth gets loose, and soon you have a new hole in your smile. In fact, you may be open-mouthed and looking for your latest loose tooth.
Related: When do baby teeth fall out?
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"Why do baby teeth fall out?" was posted on Sunday, August 12th, 2007 at 9:24 pm.
What most scientists believe is that the reason why people have two sets of teeth is because in children the mouth is much smaller than in the adult and therefore, children need smaller teeth to fit in the smaller jaws.
However, as children become larger, their muscles also become larger and stronger, and those include the muscles that close the jaws. As these muscles gain strength they begin to be too powerful for the “baby teeth,” and special cells, known as odontoclasts begin to remove the tooth from the tip of the root working toward the crown. As the baby teeth are being removed by these cells, the permanent teeth are being formed to replace the teeth being shed.
baby teeth fall out
When do teeth fall out?