Temporary baby teeth generally tend to start erupting at around 6 months of age.
Some children start growing teeth at 3 months, and in some exceptional cases they may even be born with one or two visible teeth.
Whether these teeth appear before or after the age of 6 months is of no importance; it has absolutely no effect on whether the child is more or less developed. The same applies to the eruption of their permanent teeth.
There are children or teenagers who are highly developed but whose teeth are taking a long time to grow in; while others have almost all of their teeth and yet their body growth and development is rather slower than usual.
This said, normally children whose milk teeth grow in late will find that the same will occur with their permanent teeth. And the same applies the other way round, i.e. those whose milk teeth grow in earlier will find that permanent teeth will also grow in sooner.
The eruption of temporary teeth stops at two and a half to three years of age.
How to know if a tooth is growing in
Immediately before the tooth erupts:
- The baby will salivate and suck their fingers or their hand.
- If it is painful, they will cry more often and may perhaps not eat or sleep well.
- They may have very pink cheeks.
- Their gums may be reddish and swollen.
Given that they have low defences, the baby may either have a temperature or suffer episodes of vomiting, diarrhoea or earache. While this occurs only rarely, if it does happen, we recommend that you consult your paediatrician.
Treatment
You can do several things to relieve the pain suffered by the baby:
Gels or creams rubbed into their gum
- With anaesthesia: ”Nani predental”, containing benzocaine.
- Plant-based: ”Isdin” or “Mitosyl”have a gum balsam made with camomile and marsh-mallow.
- Homeopathic: “Viburcol” made by Heel.
- Teething rings to bite on, giving the baby relief. These rings are made in rubber, and come in different models for the front or back teeth. Some models can be refrigerated for greater relief.
- Pain relief or antibiotics, should the baby suffer an infection or a small gumboil in the area of the eruption. However, this rarely occurs.
The eruption of their final teeth is less of a problem, since by then the children will be old enough to understand what’s happening to them, enabling us to take the required steps.
