Exfoliation of the teeth
It is a process in which a milk tooth falls out of a child’s mouth and permanent successor tooth takes its place.
Your baby’s teeth fall out to make way for the new permanent teeth. As the permanent successor start to grow they put pressure on the milk teeth root causing it to dissolve (resorb). This resorption continues until finally the milk teeth is not having enough root ( size) to keep it anchored within the bone so it is easily dislodged.
If your child’s permanent teeth do not come in or are not lost as expected, get an evaluation done by a dentist who would take an radiograph to evaluate the problem.
- Missing permanent tooth bud.
- Malpositioning of permanent tooth bud.
- Medical syndromes.
- Delayed dental growth pattern of child.
- Ankylosis of primary teeth.
- Presence of an extra (supernumerary) tooth.
Here is a commonly seen pattern of fall in milk teeth (Exfoliation Chart)
|Tooth type (Milk tooth)||Lower arch||Upper arch||Permanent replacement tooth|
|Central incisors||6-7 years||7-8 years||Central incisor|
|Lateral incisors||7-8 years||8-9 years||Lateral incisor|
|Cuspids||9-12 years||10-12 years||canine|
|First Molars||9-11 years||9-11 years||First premolar|
|Second molars||10-12 years||10-12 years||Second premolar|
Last updated on 23 November, 2018.