If your child is starting to shed his or her teeth, you may be feeling a little exasperated by the process. Around the age of six, kids start to shed their baby teeth. Usually, the teeth are lost in the same order in which they presented. You can expect your child’s front teeth, which are called the incisors, to loosen and fall out first.
As a child’s permanent teeth grow in, the roots of the baby or primary teeth dissolve. As a result, a baby tooth becomes wiggly and eventually detaches completely from the gums. Although the natural detachment of the tooth is generally painless. Little ones may complain a bit about the discomfort associated with a wiggly tooth.
If your child has a loose tooth that seems bothersome, you may be interested in ways to safely detach it. Home remedies, such as tying one end of a string around the tooth and the other around a door knob to yank the tooth from its socket as the door is shut, can cause pain. If the tooth is yanked too early, the dental roots may not be fully dissolved.
Here are some of the best ways to pull loose baby teeth:
Offer your child an apple.
Hard, crunchy foods, such as raw apples, can assist in the removal of a loose primary tooth. As a child chews, the bite pressure can move the wiggly tooth back and forth. This can eventually help the tooth work its way completely loose from the gums. The tooth may even become caught in the flesh of the apple, gently pulling it from your child’s mouth.
Brushing, Brushing and More Brushing
Brushing is a great way for your child to keep his or her teeth healthy. However, the practice can also place detaching pressure on a wiggly tooth. To encourage a loose tooth to fall out, have your child brush several times a day. The gentle pressure of the brushing is unlikely to be uncomfortable. However, it can be significant enough to further loosen the tooth.
To ensure that your child doesn’t damage any of his or her other teeth while brushing, be sure to have the little one use a children’s toothbrush with soft bristles.
Encourage your child to wiggle the tooth.
If you rock your child’s tooth back and forth, you may inadvertently increase your little one’s discomfort. Still, wiggling a loose tooth can encourage the tooth’s detachment. If you choose this method to pull a loose baby tooth, allow your child to rock his or her own wobbly tooth. Youngsters can easily gauge their own discomfort level and will instinctively stop the wiggling if they experience pain.
If your child can wiggle a loose tooth with no indication of discomfort, the tooth may be ready to dislodge. Be sure that the child can rock the tooth in all directions without pain. If you notice that the tooth fails to wiggle freely, it may still be too firmly attached in the mouth for removal. If the tooth appears ready to fall out, you can follow the steps below for a gentle home removal:
Have your child wash his or her hands thoroughly and begin wiggling the tooth back and forth in a rocking motion. The child can even gently twist the tooth to encourage its release.
- Once the tooth releases, apply pressure to the space on the gums with a piece of medical gauze to stop any bleeding.
- Closely examine the gap left by the tooth. You may notice a bit of the permanent tooth peeking through the gums, but no remnants of the primary tooth should be left. If you notice what appears to be fragments of the baby tooth, contact our office.
- Enjoy your role as your little one’s tooth fairy.
Visit the dentist.
If your little one’s tooth just doesn’t seem to be loosening as quickly as you believe it should, contact our St. Cloud or Maitland office for an appointment. We can assess the tooth to ensure that it is progressing as it should.
