Most of you will agree that the hardest part about being a parent is to see your child experience any level of pain or discomfort. Whether it’s the first time they fall and scratch their knee, or the first time they’re heartbroken because “Mr. Fishy” the gold fish wont be coming back, it’s never easy to see them cry.
Unfortunately, the heartache of parenting doesn’t stop there. Every child will go through the process of replacing their baby teeth and welcoming their adult ones. On average, your child will begin to lose their first baby tooth at around age 5 and last baby tooth at around age 12. The adult teeth will come in the order in which the baby ones go. A baby tooth will start to loosen once the adult tooth below is pushing up to take its place. Your child could experience discomfort. This can be a painful process for both the child and parent, if its not handled correctly.
A very common question we get from our patients is, “Should I pull out my child’s loose tooth?” The short answer is, YES. However, the first thing you should do is to encourage your child to use their tongue to wiggle it around. Only they will know how attached (or detached) the tooth is and how much discomfort they can handle. You don’t. Trying to pull it out before it’s ready can really cause great discomfort and even bruising to your child. When a tooth is loose and is ready to come out, applying pressure with just the tongue can easily rotate it. This is because the root of the tooth has almost completely disintegrated, and at this point, removing it would cause little to no pain or bleeding. If your child is still hesitant to use their tongue at this stage, you may simply just wiggle it out with your fingers. There should be very little resistance and your child would not feel much pain, if at all. Remember to remind your child to not yank out the tooth when it first starts to move. Removing a tooth that is not ready to come out may cause the root of the tooth to break away and be left behind. This could lead to infection and other problems. If the tooth does not want to come out, you may need to see your dentist to get it pulled out.
Some kids will actually be excited about losing their teeth, especially if you’re going the tooth fairy route. Just remember that losing teeth is a much more painless process compared to getting them in. The adult teeth will come at various times, so don’t forget to start brushing and flossing them right away!
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Written by Dr. Kim H. Nguyen
Owner of Mint Dental OC and is a leading dentist in Southern California.
