When Can You Expect a Child’s Tooth to Become Loose and How to Deal with It?

If you are asking yourself when your child will start losing baby teeth, you can relax until your kid turns six years. This is the time when you can expect primary front teeth to become loose, while the molars who are located in the back will stay there until the age of ten to twelve years, and be replaced with permanent teeth when your child is 13.

Most kids can’t wait for a tooth fairy to visit them, so they start wiggling and pushing a loose tooth with tongue and fingers as soon as it shows the first signs of wobbliness. However, some children are scared of this process, and they might be avoiding pulling the tooth out.

As a parent, you will have to know how to act in both cases, whether your child is eager to yank the tooth out, or afraid of that. Keep in mind that no matter how simple this looks, it is a very complex issue, and should be accessed with attention. In case that your child loses the primary teeth too early because of decay or accident, the permanent teeth can erupt prematurely and become crooked because of the limited space. If you are experiencing this issue, make sure to visit the dentist as soon as possible and check whether there is a need for braces or not. 

There are different ways how you can deal with your child’s loose tooth-like:

1. Choose Perfect Timing

Just because your child’s baby tooth started to come loose, it doesn’t mean that it is ready to be pulled out. This is a process that can last for weeks, and you will have to be patient and wait for the perfect moment to yank it out. If you do not wait for the right time to do this, your child will have an empty gap in their row of teeth for too long, as well as cause injuries to the gums and vast bleeding. Explain to your child that this is a process that can last for months, and that it will be ready to come out as soon as it starts to move as far forward and backward as possible. 

2. Encourage the Tooth to Come Out 

There are different ways you can encourage the tooth to come out on its own. You can give your child crunchy snacks like fresh carrots, apples, peaches, and others, or tell your kid to floss the teeth regularly. These methods are only suitable when the tooth is very loose because otherwise, it can cause pain and other complications like swelling.

3. Do Not Apply Analgesic Before You Consult a Pediatric Dentist

Although you can buy oral analgesic and ibuprofen in any drugstore or pharmacy without a prescription, we suggest you don’t do that unless a dentist told you so because you will have to be sure that you will give your child the right dose. This type of medicine can be applied to make the process of pulling out a loose tooth painless. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t prescript your child an oral analgesic on your own, no matter how harmless this might look. 

4. Let Your Child Handle This 

No matter how tempting for you as a parent it might be to try to pull out your child’s loose tooth, sometimes it is better to leave your kid to handle this. Usually, the kids wiggle and push the wibbly teeth on their own, and that will cause the primary teeth to fall out over time. This is the best way to ensure that this process will be painless, since your child will be able to gauge their pain, and can stop if the pulling is too hard. Still, you should make sure that your child washes hands regularly before they touch loose teeth, to prevent infections caused by dirt and bacteria. 

5. What to do When Your Child’s Loose Tooth Finally Comes Out?

If you manage to pull out your child’s loose tooth on your own, prepare that there will probably be a few spots of blood. This is a usual thing, and you should not be concerned about it. You will be able to stop the bleeding by pressing a clean cotton cloth or gauze for a few minutes, and it should be enough to solve this issue. Also, you should check whether there are fragments of the primary tooth left in your kid’s gums, and in case there are ones, make sure to schedule an appointment at your dentist as soon as possible. Check the wound from time to time to make sure there are no infections and that it is healing properly. 

If The Baby Tooth Won’t Come Out – Visit a Dentist

In case that you have tried all the methods, and the baby tooth is still there and won’t come out, we suggest you visit a dentist. He will explain to you the best techniques how to pull your child’s loose tooth out and be there to safely and painlessly remove it if it is time for that.