Five Tips For Parents Whose Children Will Soon Lose Teeth
Teething can be a long process for both babies and their parents. Thankfully, once all of the baby teeth are in, you get a break—until a few years later when your little one starts losing his or her baby teeth! This process tends to go more smoothly than teething, but it still has its bumps and challenges. The following are five tips that should help parents whose little ones are about to start losing their teeth.
1. Don't worry about timing.
Parents often become panicked if their child does not start losing teeth as early as friends or siblings. You may also panic if your child is quite young and has already begun losing teeth. But while the average age to lose a first tooth is six, there is a lot of variation in tooth loss. Your child may lose their first tooth at four, five, six, or even seven—and this is all completely normal. Unless your child reaches the age of eight and has not lost any teeth, you do not need to be alarmed or call the dentist. And even then—while it is a good idea to have the dentist take a look at make sure nothing is amiss—there is a good chance your child is just a bit of a late bloomer and will start losing teeth soon.
2. Decide early on what you want to do about the tooth fairy.
Many American parents decide to play along with the tooth fairy myth, placing money or a trinket under their child's pillow after they lose a tooth. Some parents, however, feel that this is dishonest or prefer not to play into the tooth fairy myth for other reasons. Either approach is perfectly okay, but you should decide what you will do early on so you are not scrambling to come up with a strategy when your child does lose that first tooth. If you decide not to play tooth fairy, make sure your child knows not to spoil things for their peers by telling them the tooth fairy is not real.
3. Get ready for some crying.
Children will often cry when they lose their first tooth, but they do not cry because the process is painful. Typically, the crying has more to do with fear or unfamiliarity with what has just happened. Console your child, and reassure them that everyone loses their teeth. Hug them, and give them a special, cold treat like a popsicle or ice cream to soothe both their mouth and their spirit. If you have younger children who have not yet reached the stage of losing teeth, let them observe this process so that when they start losing teeth, the process seems more familiar.
4. Don't panic if the adult tooth does not emerge right away.
Sometimes, the new adult tooth appears within days of the baby tooth falling out. Other times, you may not see an adult tooth for months. Do not get too nervous if an adult tooth does not appear in a timely manner. Your dentist will alert you during your child's regular checkup if anything truly seems amiss.
5. Alert the dentist about any very crooked or misplaced teeth.
It's common for teeth to come in a little crooked and then straighten out on their own in the coming months. However, you should alert the dentist if your child's tooth comes in sideways, emerges from the roof of their mouth, or is overlapping another tooth to a large extent. Your child's dentist may elect to wait and place braces on your child's teeth later on, or they may need to do something about the issue sooner.
Having your child lose their teeth can be trying, but this is a normal milestone that everyone must navigate in life. You'll make it through—and so will your kid. Contact a dentist like William E Kemper DMD for more information.
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