Did you know that sharks have the
ability to re-grow a tooth? They
continually “shed” and develop new teeth, and, they never run out; if a tooth
is lost, another one moves forward from their multiple rows of backup teeth. Scientists tell us that most sharks will use
20,000 – 30,000 teeth over a lifetime!
Humans, however, only get 2 sets
of teeth in a lifetime. Baby teeth,
or primary teeth, begin to appear around age 6 or 7 months, although some
children develop them earlier. There are
20 primary teeth that normally all appear by age 3.
At age 5 or 6, primary teeth begin
to loosen and fall out as the underlying permanent teeth “push” them during the
eruption process. This sequence usually
continues until about age 12 or 13. By
age 14, children have 28 permanent teeth.
Most teens develop 4 additional permanent teeth, or “wisdom teeth”, that
will erupt around age 17 or 18.
We think sharks are cool, and we
wish we could help our patients re-grow teeth, but unfortunately we are not
there just yet. We want to help our
patients take care of the teeth they have with regular checkups and cavity
prevention.
So, how many teeth do you have
right now? If you are an adult with
less than 28 teeth, you may have difficulty chewing or feel less than confident
about your smile. A 7 year old child may
have over 40 teeth! We can show them on
an xray and count them together.
Contact Us to schedule your next
dental visit and let us help you take care of your smile.
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