When a baby is born it already has teeth hidden beneath it's gums.The
teeth usually begin to appear when the baby is six or seven months
old.
These are known as primary, milk or deciduous
teeth.
Humans have two sets of teeth (dentitions)
during their lives - the first set consists of twenty deciduous
teeth which are a temporary set - the word deciduous is also used
to describe trees that lose their leaves.
Although they are temporary the first set of teeth are important
for chewing, developing speech and saving
space for the second set, so make sure that you take care
of them!
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Can you see Sophie smiling with her first
deciduous teeth?
The word tooth comes from the
Latin word "dens"...
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From the age of 5 the front incisors
(lower "A"s- see the chart below) start to loosen - you
will notice when the tooth falls out that the root has gone - this
is because it has dissolved.
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As we lose our milk teeth they are replaced by 20 permanent
teeth plus another 12 permanent molars.
NEXT: Parts of the tooth...
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