{"id":21,"date":"2021-09-21T14:16:56","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T14:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.milkteeth.org.uk\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2021-11-15T14:11:49","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T14:11:49","slug":"anatomy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.milkteeth.org.uk\/anatomy\/","title":{"rendered":"Anatomy Of Milk Teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Human beings have two sets of teeth; the first set is commonly known as milk, baby or deciduous teeth, and the second set are known as adult or permanent teeth. The milk teeth have exactly the same component parts as adult teeth but they are generally much smaller and not as strong as permanent teeth. The milk teeth are anchored by roots and the main body of the tooth contains cementum and dentin (the dentin portion contains the pulp, which is the \u2018living\u2019 component of the tooth that contains blood vessels and nerves); the tooth is covered by a hard enamel covering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Function of milk teeth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Milk teeth are very important so it is essential to look after them well. Milk teeth are important for speech and language development and they enable children to eat properly. Milk teeth are also important for determining the occlusion of the adult teeth (this is the relationship between the upper and lower sets of teeth). The teeth also help to support the cheeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When do baby teeth start to erupt?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Children usually start to develop milk teeth between the age of 5 and 8 months. All children are different and some may develop them earlier or later than this time. Most children should have all their baby teeth by the age of two years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many milk teeth does a child have?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are 20 milk teeth in total: these include eight incisors, four canines (also known as cuspid teeth) and eight molars; each arch (another name for the upper or lower collection of teeth) contains ten teeth. Each type of tooth has a different function: canine teeth are sharp and are used for cutting and tearing food, incisors are used for biting and the molars are used for grinding and chewing. They have a large surface area and have strong roots which enable them to apply great force to the piece of food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which order do the teeth develop in?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The incisors tend to erupt first, at around the age of 6 months. Usually the central incisors erupt first and are quickly followed by the lateral incisors at the age of 7 months. The incisors are followed by the first molars at the age of 12-16 months, then the canine teeth at the age of 16-20 months and the finally the second molars at the age of 20-30 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The milk teeth tend to fall out in the order they erupt, although this is not always the case. The milk teeth tend to fall out as the permanent teeth mature beneath them. The presence of the permanent teeth cause the root of the milk tooth to dissolve, which results in the tooth becoming wobbly and then falling out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When do the milk teeth start to fall out?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The majority of adolescents begin to lose milk teeth at the age of 5-6. However, children may lose teeth prematurely as a result an accident or injury or due to severe decay. Increasingly, younger children are losing teeth early as a result of decay and some dentists have reported seeing children as young as 2 who need their teeth extracted as a result of extensive decay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Human beings have two sets of teeth; the first set is commonly known as milk, baby or deciduous teeth, and the second set are known as adult or permanent teeth. The milk teeth have exactly the same component parts as adult teeth but they are generally much smaller and not as strong as permanent teeth. […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.milkteeth.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.milkteeth.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.milkteeth.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.milkteeth.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.milkteeth.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.milkteeth.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100,"href":"https:\/\/www.milkteeth.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions\/100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.milkteeth.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}