A baby tooth is also called a primary tooth or a children's tooth. Each one is very important, performs several vital functions and acts as a space maintainer for its unerupted adult partner. If a child's tooth is lost prematurely, the adult tooth will often not have enough room to come in. This can result in a malocclusion and a large bill for orthodontic treatment when the child gets older.

          A baby tooth is usually smaller than its adult counterpart. As a child's mouth, jaws and skull grow, there's more room for the larger adult teeth. Primary teeth fall out one by one as a child grows towards adult size. This sequence is documented in a tooth eruption chart that shows the common eruption and loss ages for each tooth. Occasionally, a baby tooth extraction is necessary when a tooth refuses to fall out at its correct time.

          The first baby tooth to erupt into the mouth is the lower central incisor. This usually occurs three months after birth but some children are born with them already present. It is very interesting that babies seem to naturally know not to chew on their mother's nipples when they are breast feeding.

          A baby tooth has small roots that are unusually spread apart allowing the adult tooth underneath to push upward between the baby roots. The nerve inside a children's tooth is much smaller than its adult counterpart and there is a significant difference between a child root canal and a adult root canal. The dentists at the Atlanta Dental Group PC are dedicated to their patients' good health and well being. You and your children are welcome to join our family of patients. Kids are important to us! If you wish to consult with our senior Atlanta Family Dentist, Dr. Mark Allan Padolsky, feel free to schedule an appointment by calling 404-874-7428.