It is natural for parents to be concerned about every aspect of their baby’s development. The natural process of teething, the coming in of the baby’s milk (primary) teeth, can fast become distressing for the baby and a source of anxiety for the parents. Not all babies’ teeth at the same time; while some get their first tooth around the age of 6 to 8 months; others do not teeth for 12 months or more. This delay can be very worrying for the parents, but even if your 12 month old baby hasn’t started his or her teething process yet, doctors say that there is no cause for concern! Read on to learn all about the process of teething; when do babies get teeth and why some babies are late baby teethers.
Every baby has a different teething time; while some babies begin teething as early as 4 months with the eruption of the lower central incisors, followed by the upper central incisors. According to Dr. Garth Nicholson at MedHelp, if babies do not start teething by the time they turn 18 months old, the parents should get an x-ray to determine the cause of the delay. It is quite normal for some babies to get their first tooth at 14 or 15 months, so parents should not worry about something being wrong with their baby.
In order to better understand when babies get teeth, you need to understand the onset of teeth to begin with. Primary teeth are a set of 20 temporary teeth that help the baby obtain nutrition from dietary sources that require chewing. They eventually fall out and make room for the permanent teeth. While the whole set of baby teeth should erupt by the time the child is two and a half to three years old, the pace of eruption and the sequence of the appearance of teeth varies greatly from baby to baby. Teething can be a painful and irritating process for most babies. Some babies become irritable, cranky, or develop rashes, fever and sore gums. Parents can ease the process of baby teething by giving the baby something hard to chew on, or by applying teething gels which contain local anesthetics.
The first baby teeth to come in are the lower central incisors, followed by upper central incisors. The baby teeth usually fall out by the time the child turns 6 or 7 years to make room for the set of 28 (or 32) permanent teeth.
According to Dr. Alan Greene, clinical professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, an attending pediatrician at Packard Children's Hospital and pediatric expert for WebMD, In some cases late teething can be a result of nutritional deficiencies or problems, due to a systematic condition such as hypopituitarism or hypothyroidism, or as a result of genetic disorders such as Apert syndrome. If your baby does not have all of his primary teeth by the age of 33 months, consult a pediatrician to ensure that the delay is not due to some other health concerns.
