Have you ever wondered about your teeth? Most kids have been told those are the only teeth you are going to get so take care of them. This is not actually true because us humans get two sets of teeth. The first set are referred to as your deciduous or baby teeth and your second set are the adult or permanent teeth. If you compare this to parts of the animal kingdom it is not uncommon. Other mammals such as cats and dogs have the same situation that we do. When they are a puppy or kitten they are gumming their way through life. After a few weeks they have very sharp and fine teeth. They will soon lose these teeth and the adult teeth come on in. The second set is what they get for the rest of their life. If you look at marine life the tooth experience will look much different. Sharks for example lose teeth that will quickly be replaced with new ones. Most sharks have several rows of teeth that can come and go as needed. That is why if you buy a shark tooth necklace the odds that a shark was actually harmed are minimal. Shark teeth can be found along the ocean floor on a regular basis. We don’t get the same treatment with our teeth. We are more like a dog because we get only two sets.
Smile Reef Explains the Purpose of Baby Teeth in Our Development
How Many Teeth Do You Have?: This is sort of a trick question. There are other attributes and circumstances that determine how many teeth you have. If you want the general and most common answer then when you grow in your baby teeth, you will end up with 20! As those fall out you will then have a total of 32 adult teeth that are permanent. There are times that your adult teeth do not form and that leads to a gap that will need some dental work to close up. To know where your tooth development is at and what you can expect when your adult teeth come in a visit to the dentist is all it will take. They can take x-rays that show the teeth beneath the gums that are awaiting their arrival.
Why Do We Have Baby Teeth?: The question why we need baby teeth seem to be a good one. First off you are not born with any teeth that have advanced through the gum line. Over the course of the first few years of life teeth will emerge but we only have them for a short period relative to our lifetime. Most children will start to lose their baby teeth at about age five all the way through early teens. If baby teeth are just going to come out, then why are they necessary? When you are small your jaw is also small. The teeth that you need as an adult are specifically fit together to take care of your chewing and eating needs. As you grow, so does your jaw opening the space needed to grow in the larger permanent teeth. The baby teeth are your starter set that will act as a space holder. That is their main job and function.
Pediatric Dental Care
Smile Reef offers dental exams and procedures to care for baby teeth and determine the growth of permanent teeth. Contact us to schedule your next appointment today!
