My daughter is 6 years old and she just started going to the 1st grade. Her teachers and classmates are laughing at her because she hasn’t lost a single baby tooth. Most of her classmates have lost 3-4 baby teeth.
Should I be worried? Someone suggested going to the dentist and forcefully removing the baby teeth although they are not “moving”.
Any ideas?
When they’re ready, they’ll come out. She should go to see a dentists soon enough anyway.
My eldest was 7-1/2 before she lost her first tooth and she had to endure stupid comments for years. We told her to be happy that she probably would be buried with all her own teeth unlike her peers.
I finally had my last 2 baby teeth pulled out when I was about 38.
If you go to the dentist, and he decide to remove some teeths, please make sure he only remove those where you can see the new tooth coming up under it - ready to break through, but not able to push the baby-tooth loose.
I was going to report that I was 33 when I had my last single baby tooth pulled out, but you’ve stolen my thunder so I won’t now 
Thanks, everyone. I feel much better knowing there is no age limit for losing baby teeth.
I assume that some of the kids with lots of teeth falling out early may be the same ones whose teeth are all black and rotten from total neglect? In any event, our girl’s teeth are not black, as she eats very little sweets and has always been good about brushing (and we didn’t put her to sleep with a bottle in her mouth).
But a new (adult) tooth came up in the front middle bottom, right behind the baby teeth, and was pushing its way into her mouth, causing the baby tooth in front of it to loosen, so my wife gave till a certain date for the baby tooth to fall out and she scheduled an appointment for the dentist to pull it if it didn’t come out on its own. It didn’t fall out, so the dentist pulled it, no problem and I believe no pain/crying, though I wasn’t there.
As my wife explained, we had to get the old tooth out of the way, because otherwise the new tooth was pushing in and would result in teh teeth being crooked because too crowded.
And now the next adult tooth is pushing its way into her mouth and the adjacent baby tooth is getting a little wiggly, but my wife mentioned having the dentist yank this one too.
So here’s my question. In the West, do parents also take their kids to the dentist to yank out the old teeth to make room for the new ones? I don’t remember that at all from my childhood, but perhaps I blanked it out. Is it really necessary, or will they 99% of the time simply fall out on their own as the new ones come in?
Have all of you parents with 6+ yr-olds had the dentist yank your kids’ teeth?
The first tooth to push in usually is wider than the baby tooth it pushed out–thus, this tooth loosens and pushes out the next, and so on and so forth. I’ve never heard of anyone pulling baby teeth for non-medical reasons before this thread.
Personally, I don’t think it’s a good idea to pull a loose baby tooth early because that tooth is guiding in the adult tooth. Without the baby tooth, the adult tooth could come up anywhich way. At least, that’s my take on it.
My son is seven (8 here, as he loves to point out). The first tooth he lost was back around his sixth birthday and the adult tooth took a long time to come up after it. The next was much quicker. He lost his third baby tooth last week. All on the bottom.
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]
So here’s my question. In the West, do parents also take their kids to the dentist to yank out the old teeth to make room for the new ones? I don’t remember that at all from my childhood, but perhaps I blanked it out. Is it really necessary, or will they 99% of the time simply fall out on their own as the new ones come in?
Have all of you parents with 6+ yr-olds had the dentist yank your kids’ teeth?[/quote]
Eeeek! No, definitely not common practice in this part of the West. In fact, my cousin’s little boy’s dentist crowned one of his teeth rather than pull it (I think it was rotten). So presumably they try to avoid pulling the baby teeth here?
My son is just turned seven and hasn’t lost any teeth, nor suffered any teasing as far as I’m aware. I tell him his teeth are going to be fantastic when they come out because they’ve spent so long growing in his gums. 
I just went to the dentist with my son a couple of weeks ago right after his sixth birthday, because four of his teeth are starting to get loose. The dentist said, there is no ideal age for losing baby teeth so don’t listen to anyone telling you it’s too soon/too late/diet is too rich/lacking… My son did have one tooth pulled, because the other tooth was coming up already and it was very loose. The new tooth appeared two days later. The dentist told me to spend a few minutes once a week checking the other teeth. He said to lay your child on your lap and look up to see if the new teeth are breaking through the gums or seem to growing directly in line with the teeth, and to check the looseness of the teeth. We’ll take him back in for a check-up once the others get very loose if the new ones don’t seem to be growing in right.
I remember pulling my baby teeth out with my fingers or else my dad doing it, or else tying the string around the tooth and around the door handle thing.
Certainly never went to a dentist for it. Never heard such nonsense! 
Yea, same here. Of course a large part of the reason is because going to the dentist back home means getting in the car, driving across town, and paying upwards of US$100. Here one can walk to the corner and get it done for less than 5 bucks.
But I think it’s more than that. I think it’s also tied to the simplistic, unholistic, gullible belief of most Taiwanese, that doctors, dentists and pharmacists have magical powers and if one has any sort of ailment, of any kind, one should go to such professional and they will diagnose you and treat you, as ordinary people, not having knowlege of their own bodies, are incapable of doing.
My son had his first two permenant teeth grow up behind his baby teeth. These were the bottom row, front teeth. Our dentist said to NOT pull them as they are space holders for the adult teeth. He looked like a shark for a log time but sure enough, the front baby teeth fell out and the new teeth moved into place.
Our daughter is about the same age as yours, she has already lost 5 teeth and 4 big teeth have grown through already. Her first couple of teeth were each really lose for about 1mth before they fell out. The adult tooth growing through appeared within a couple days.
Strangely, my wife did also take our daughter to the dentist to remove the first, they used some gel to numb the area, not that I think it really hurt! The second as well… The third I removed out with my fingers when it was really really lose, and had moved into an awkward angle.
The 4th she lost while eating an icecream, it just fell out and she spat it out on the floor thinking it was an icecube, some tears, but mostly because of the shock. In a weird twist of fate, last sunday she lost the 5th while eating ice cream too when she bumped the tooth on the cone. She does not often eat icecream, so I am not sure if there is something to do with the cold… that one there was not any tears, and she seemed quite proud of it in the restaurant… so seems she is finally all good with loosing teeth now.
Anyway, like you I never went to the dentist to remove a tooth, so doing it seems abnormal to me… I think it is mostly the unknown of not knowing when the first should be pulled, and the fact it gets so lose that it irritates (or causes the child to stop eating), so looking for some professional advice…
They don’t do the tooth fairy thing here either. I told my daughter to put her tooth under her pillow and she’s like, “Are you crazy?”
I didn’t do the tooth fairy, either. My God, man! It would be like diddling Father Christmas! Are you crazy?
The tooth fairy is a girl you know.
The tooth fairy came to our house, but my wife bought this box that has holes arranged in two bite-shaped arcs for Emily to store each of her teeth in the corresponding hole after they fall out, so I had to leave a note under her pillow for the tooth fairy to please not take the tooth. Good deal. The fairy showed up and left a shiny coin under her pillow but didn’t take the tooth. 
Incidentally, I had this big ugly, truly gnarly, gruesome-looking wisdom tooth pulled a couple of years ago and I kept it, because I found it so attractive. So I suggested to Emily that I also put my tooth in the box with her dainty little baby tooth, but she rejected the offer. 
Highland Toffee Bars - the perfect tool for pulling a wobbly tooth and yummy to boot
I would have loved to diddle the tooth fairy but she stopped coming by before I hit puberty. 