Guest Post - The Basics of Baby Teeth

Guest blogger Jennifer Vishnevsky writes for TopDentists.com, part of the Everyday Health portfolio, which also includes WhatToExpect.com, as well as a freelancer for other lifestyle media sites.

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Seeing your baby’s first teeth can be exciting and nerve wracking. Before you know it, those little teeth may be accompanied by crying and fussing. Gums take a few years to be replaced by two rows of baby teeth. It’s still important to take good care of gums and then baby teeth, as they are the placeholders for adult teeth.

Without a healthy set of baby teeth, your child will have trouble chewing and speaking clearly. That's why caring for baby teeth and keeping them decay-free is so important.

Start taking care of your baby’s gums by gently wiping them down at least twice a day with a moistened washcloth or cause. This simple task will wash off bacteria. Once your child’s teeth start erupting, use a toothbrush with a soft head and small head. Start using a small amount of toothpaste around age 1. You should take your child to a first dental appointment by age 1. Your dentist will give you advice about teething and thumb sucking, among other things. Most dentists recommend waiting until age 2 to use fluoride toothpaste.

If you’ve heard of the phrase “the terrible two’s,” you’ve likely heard parents talk about teething. It can take two years before all of your child’s teeth emerge through the gums. Teething is uncomfortable and painful, so take steps to relieve your child’s discomfort. Teething rings are very popular for parents. Let your baby chew on a clean, cool teething ring or a cold washcloth. Also, try rubbing your baby’s gums with a clean finger. If your child seems to be in a lot of pain, some pediatricians recommend giving your baby Tylenol occasionally to relieve pain.

As your child’s teeth erupt, start thinking about how you can prevent cavities. Avoid giving your child any sugary drinks, like juice and soda. Even excess breast milk can cause problems with tooth decay. Bacteria feeds on the sugar from sweet drinks and produces acid, which attacks your baby’s teeth. If you send your baby to bed or naps with a bottle or sippy cup, fill it with water only. Also avoid putting anything sweet on your baby's pacifier.

Children start losing their baby teeth around the age of six. The last baby teeth generally fall out by age 12 or 13. You’ll notice that baby teeth tend to fall out in the order that they erupted. The bottom two front teeth are generally the first to fall out, followed by the top front two teeth. Check with your child’s dentist about losing baby teeth. Some baby teeth may be resistant to falling out or being pulled.

The most important thing to remember about losing baby teeth is that you have the perfect opportunity to emphasize oral care. Make brushing teeth a fun activity with character toothbrushes and toothpastes. Happy child equals happy smile!

Finger-Sucking Good

When the twins were infants, I rejoiced and counted my blessings for many reasons, not the least of which being that they refused to take a pacifier.

What luck! I thought. No constant disinfecting of plastic tabs, no finding gross old pacis under the couch, no losing every single dummy just when I need one the most. No crying at night or during nap when the babies couldn't find their little rubbery paradise.

No, my kids were smart. They chose the pacis that would never leave them. Natalina decided on her thumb. Dulce sucked her two fingers, which, as she got bigger, changed to just her pointer finger.

Well, that was short-sighted thinking, wasn't it? I say three years later. Because while all my friends are using the "pacifier fairy" (hi Alison!) and simply taking the dummies away, my kids still have their fingers and thumbs. Not even the best, most adept, pacifier fairy could take a child's digits away.

So what would have been a few days or maybe even a few weeks of begging, whining, sleepless nights, a few tantrums here and there, is for me a constant battle.

"Take your finger out of your mouth; you'll break your teeth."

"Don't suck on your thumb, baby, you'll pull your teeth forward."

"Just a little suck my finger, mama?"

"I'd prefer not, boo. You don't want to break your teeth, right?"

To my amazing luck, they've taken to this pretty well. Apparently breaking their teeth is a concept they can grasp, and something they don't want to risk, even for the comfort of sucking. And they still have their loveys (which usually go hand in hand with sucking behavior), to help them through the rough patches.

My heart swells with pride when I see them push their loveys up to their little faces, almost in the comfort position, the only piece missing being the thumb or finger in the mouth. Instead, that thumb or finger lingers just millimeters from its intended goal. But it never goes in. Well, almost never. And it's been only a few days.

And two unexpected perks? Now that they're concerned with their teeth, they want to brush them all the time. And now that they know at night they can sneak a suck here and there because I'm not in their room, they go to bed quite a bit easier. Winning all over the place.

What big girls I have. What strong-willed, amazing girls. They might just save me $8,000 in dental bills yet.

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Who Came Up with This?

The screaming, the thrashing, the whining, the complete meltdown explosion. It caught me by surprise.  Yes, I had noticed my babies getting more cranky over the past few days, but I figured it was letdown from our vacation ending, tiredness, maybe a growth spurt causing hungriness. I never in my wildest dreams would have anticipated the striking and startling hour-long tantrum that was in store for me yesterday morning.

I don't even remember how it started.  It rose so quickly and became so intense within seconds, it seemed as if my life had never been different, that I'd always had a wailing toddler kicking, biting and rolling about by my feet, that I'd always been trying to hug, console, talk to or otherwise coddle this whirlwind of emotion.

I couldn't get her to talk to me. I couldn't get her to even attempt to explain what the heck had happened to set this off.  She was beside herself. Literally out of her mind. And I was quickly getting there.

Is it food?  Would you like more breakfast?  Your bear? Do you want Bear? No. How about a drink? Do you have to use the potty? Baby, are you sick? Do you want a hug? Hell, no! What can I do for you?  For the love of anything holy, tell me, what can I do for you?

All at once I felt helpless, overwhelmed, broken.  I felt sympathy for my daughter, but, not understanding what could possibly be wrong, I felt mildly annoyed, too.  I know well enough by now that these were not cries for show. She wasn't acting out for attention.  Something must really be wrong. But, baby, you can talk now.  So, talk! Tell me, please. Tell me.

Finally, she calmed down on her own.  She still wouldn't tell me what the whole thing was about.  I tried to talk to her about it, and she was all, "I don't even know to what you are referring, my good lady." (My babies never leave a participle hanging, you see. Haha.)

It was only a good 30 minutes later, when I was feeding them a snack that I found the problem. There in the back of her mouth was a bloody little patch on one side with four little points barely breeching the surface.

Remember when I told you it was always teething?  I'd forgotten my own advice.  It is always teething.

Damn you, foul teeth! Are you not done with us yet?  How long must this go on?

It's my own fault for assuming they were done with this unending phase. Silly me, thinking that the molars that came in when they turned two were their two-year molars. No, no.  Those were the one-year molars.

Can anyone tell me who thought it would be a good evolutionary move to have humans develop teeth in such a way that knife-like bone split up from the gums for years and years and years? Slowly? One at a freaking time?  Intelligent design?  I don't know about that.  Seems cruel and unnecessary.

But, I am comforted.  I know that this time, they are done for real. This will be the last time they have to deal with enflamed mouths of pain.

Oh wait, no.  Because then the teeth fall out and we get to start again.  I ask again...who came up with teething?  I need a word with their supervisor.

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It's Teething. Trust me.

My husband laughs at me.  My babies are teething.  That's no laughing matter, of course, as anyone who has dealt with a teething baby can tell you.  He laughs at me because, in my opinion, my babies are always teething.  My babies have been teething since day one, or at least since month three.  As soon as the experts gave me a ready-made, go-to excuse for their seemingly uncalled for tears and distress, I took it and ran.

Crying because they don't want to eat?   Teething.  Crying because they're overtired?  Teething.  Crying because they can't communicate?  They must be oversensitive because they're teething.  Most importantly, though, when they cry for no discernible reason, it's definitely teething.

As they've gotten older, it's become much easier for me to tell why they are crying.  The communication issues are clearing up, they eat more or less on a schedule, and I make sure they take a nap for everyone's sanity.  Yet, there are still days when the whimpering, whiny, crying, 24-7-hug-needing baby appears.  I have nowhere else to turn.  It must be teething.

I will never understand why, as babies, when there is so much other growth and learning to overwhelm and scare us, we would have evolved to suffer sharp hard points shreading our gums for the entirety of the first two years of our existence.  Is there not some easier way for teeth to appear in our mouths?  And if poking through sealed membrane is the only answer, must it be so drawn out?  If the pain must be constantly present, why not make it last a more reasonable amount of time, say, three weeks.  This throbbing and pulsing until the relief of a breakthrough teases the baby into a feeling of security that the pain is over, only to have it start again, and even worse this time, because the molars are coming in.  The gradual crescendo of pain, with each tooth supposedly being harder on the child than the last, can hardly be good for that child's mental state.

Using teething as a catch-all crank-maker is helpful to parents who might otherwise be at the end of their rope.  Even if the reason behind the crying is not always teething, for the most part, it is something that will pass relatively quickly.  I have on many occasions blamed teething for fussiness, only to have that fussiness resolve itself with no tooth in sight.

"That's great!" I tell myself with a pat on the back. "I guess it stopped bothering her."

The only question remaining is what I am going to do once these final molars pop through.  I'll finally be left with no one to blame but myself and the universe at large.

Until then, though, it's teething.  Trust me.