Eruption Sequence of Baby Teeth

What is the eruption sequence of baby teeth? Which tooth comes out first? Which tooth comes after? Many parents simply aren’t aware of it and yet it is very important to recognize any abnormal eruption pattern. There are several causes where a tooth will fail to erupt, such as congenital missing teeth, impacted teeth, teeth erupting in wrong directions, etc.

In addition, by recognizing the eruption of the very first tooth in the infant, parents can adopt certain preventive measures that minimize the transmission of dental cavities from themselves to their babies. Did I mention cavities can be transferred to other people? You bet! Dental caries is the most common bacterial infection in childhood, more common than any other childhood diseases or infections such as asthma, hay fever, strep throat, flu, you name it. Talk to your dentist about how to reduce the vertical transmission (parent-child transmission) and hence the risk of future cavities in your kids. If your parents have lots of cavities and so do you, blame your parents?!

The following table provides an estimated time frame for each baby tooth to come out. The time is in month.

The above time frames are only estimates. It varies among individuals. Therefore, it’s more important to recognize the eruption sequence rather than the exact eruption time. That is, central incisor > lateral incisor > 1st molar > canine > 2nd molar.

Cheat-sheet

As a general rule, lower teeth erupts before their upper counterparts. For example, lower incisors erupt before upper incisors.

The first tooth to comes out is lower central incisor at the age of 6 months.
First molar comes out during the First year of age.
Second molar comes out during the Second year of age.
By age of 3, all 20 deciduous teeth should be present.

With full eruption, babies have 20 teeth, whereas adults have 32 teeth.

Credited to Pediatrics 2003; 111:1113-1116:


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