Health Leader - Baby Teeth 101

STORY BY

Melissa McDonald

Every night in America, countless Tooth Fairies clock in. They are usually disguised as groggy moms and dads counting out cash under a Cinderella night-light and cursing silently from padding barefoot across a floor strewn with Legos.

Traditions vary across the globe, but practical dental advice is universal when it comes to losing baby teeth. Here are a few details parents need to know before that first loose tooth.

The first little wiggle

Children naturally start to lose their baby teeth (otherwise known as deciduous, milk, temporary or primary teeth) around 5 to 6 years. (Children whose baby teeth erupt early may lose them before late teethers do.)

Inflation hits Tooth Fairy!

With gas prices and interest rates flying high and the value of the dollar against world currencies plummeting, even the Tooth Fairy is getting an economic wing clipping.

Ask any typically cash-strapped parent: What is the current going rate of a baby tooth compared to one of yesteryear?

HealthLeader ran a (thoroughly unscientific) study to find out the relative value of one of those precious baby teeth. We asked 1) what does the Tooth Fairy bring your children for loss of teeth and 2) what did the Tooth Fairy bring YOU (back in the Dark Ages—before tooth bleaching was invented)?

The average revenue per tooth before 1970 was 24 cents (would’ve been 25 cents, but a few deprived Boomers were given only a dime.)

Today’s average income per tooth, (not including those who also gave gold coins, Hanna Montana dolls and double-guilt money for forgetting the last tooth) is $2.75.

To make things worse, 24 cents in the year 1970 had the same "purchase power" as $1.28 in the year 2007 – and today’s $2.75 would have bought $14.68 worth of goodies back in 1970!

Now we’re in 2008, with an 1100 percent lost-tooth inflation rate from 1970. Assuming the Tooth Fairy didn’t fall for a sub prime mortgage, she’s sure sitting pretty.

“Girls also tend to lose that first baby tooth early, and the first tooth to go is usually in the lower front,” says Jung-Wei Chen, DDS, PhD, assistant professor of pediatric dentistry at The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston.

It’s exciting to discover that first loose tooth. For most little kids, it is a sign of becoming a big kid. “Encourage that,” Chen says. “Make sure they know it is important to keep wiggling it-- with clean fingers.”

Eating apples and pears also can help loosen the tooth. “The tough skins on those two fruits can be especially helpful. They might even see their tooth come out by munching down on one of those healthy snack items,” says Chen.

A baby tooth becomes loose when its roots begin to dissolve because the permanent tooth is pressing on it. Generally, it takes a few months from the time a tooth becomes loose until it falls out. Loose teeth also can be stubborn, sometimes “hanging by a thread” for several weeks.

Normal bleeding

There may be a little bleeding when the tooth first comes out. Don’t encourage your child to keep spitting out the blood because it can irritate the gum and cause more bleeding. Just take a small piece of gauze and place it where the tooth came out.

“Keep in mind that even a very small amount of blood mixed with saliva looks like a lot more blood than there actually is,” Chen says. The bleeding should stop within five to 10 minutes. If it doesn’t, call your dentist, Chen advises.

When to see the dentist

First dental visits should be scheduled about six months after the appearance of the first baby tooth or by age 1, according to guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.

Bitina Katheria, DDS, and first-year resident at the UT Dental Branch urges parents to pay close attention to their children’s early dental hygiene.

“You want to keep baby teeth as free from decay as possible to prevent systemic infection that might start from cavities and to prevent any damage to the permanent teeth underneath.”

Chen likes to allow youngsters (ages 2-6) to brush their own teeth, “But when they are finished, it’s best for parents to go behind them and re-brush,” especially those back teeth that children often miss. “This is also a good time to notice any concerns, such as a permanent tooth erupting before a baby tooth is gone.”

Need an appointment?

Contact the UT-Houston
Pediatric Dentistry Graduate Clinic
at 6655 Travis Street, Suite 460
Houston, TX 77030
713-500-8220

Office Hours: Mon.-Fri. starting at 8:00 A.M.
(C.H.I.P., private insurance, Medicaid accepted)

If a permanent tooth begins to sprout from the gum before the baby tooth falls out, the dentist will pull the baby tooth to help ensure that the permanent tooth can grow straight into the empty spot.

Always visit a dentist if a baby tooth is knocked out due to trauma to the mouth, Katheria says, “to make sure no gum tissue, bone structure or permanent teeth were harmed.”

If your child has not lost the first baby tooth by age 8, he or she will need a dental evaluation and most likely, an X-ray, says Chen. By age 12, most children will have lost all 20 of their baby teeth.

As for what to do with those baby teeth, it is up to each parent. “Some parents choose to keep them in their jewelry box. One parent told me they even made a necklace out of them,” Chen recalls, “and some just toss them out. It’s up to you.” And your Tooth Fairy.

Scotland has a tooth fairy,
Mexico has a mouse

“In Chinese tradition, losing your first tooth means you are beginning to grow up. If you lose a tooth from the top of your mouth, you are supposed to throw it under your bed. If it came from the bottom, you are supposed to try and throw it over the roof. According to tradition, that ensures that your teeth will grow in straight.” — Dr. Jung-Wei Chen, pediatric dentist

“In Puerto Rico, it is a little mouse that takes the tooth. According to my husband’s family, the mouse collects the teeth to use as keys for a beautiful piano it is building.” — Dr. Susan Pacheco, pediatric immunologist and allergist

“I kept a letter my daughter wrote about the Tooth Fairy as a child. I have it saved with her keepsakes. Apparently, she felt that the Tooth Fairy and leprechauns (Irish mythology) had a give-and-take relationship. She thought the Tooth Fairy got the money to leave under children’s pillows from leprechauns.

In exchange, the Tooth Fairy then gave the teeth to the leprechauns so that they could build their houses out of teeth. Part of this was probably my fault, as I always left gold dollars for her teeth. I guess she connected that to the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.” — Dr. Pamela Berens, obstetrician-gynecologist

“Growing up in Italy, it was the custom to take the tooth and throw it in a chimney… so it would disappear.” — Dr. Giuseppe Colasurdo, dean of UT Medical School, pediatrician

“In a desperate attempt to preserve the magic for my children who had heard the ‘no Tooth Fairy’ rumors at school, I bought a can of spray glitter. I sprayed it on the sill of the slightly cracked-open window and trailed it across the floor to their beds: fairy dust. For one special tooth, I left a butterfly wing behind.” — Karen Krakower, editor, HealthLeader

“My daughter lost her first tooth while we were visiting my mother. She put her tooth under her pillow that night, but we failed to designate a Tooth Fairy. I crept in and gave her money; her father snuck in and gave her money; so did my mother. She woke up with $20.

The next night I tucked her in, and my hand met something sharp under her pillow. I lifted it up and saw my mother’s partial denture. She explained, “If the Tooth Fairy gave me $20 for one tooth, think of what she will give me for all of Grandma’s teeth.” — Shelia Amiot, administrative assistant