Is it advisable to remove the milk teeth in a child to enable the adult tooth to grow out properly?

Doctor's Answer

Thank you for your question.

I would say that your child probably has a generalised delayed tooth eruption, but there is nothing to worry about for now yet. It’s a good sign that his lower front teeth have began to erupt!

“Is it advisable to remove the milk teeth to enable the adult tooth to grow out properly? Or is it alright to wait for the milk teeth to fall out by itself.”

The lower adult teeth erupts naturally at a position behind that of the baby teeth. I assume based on your description that the adult teeth is just peeking through the gums (i.e. it has just erupted very sightly)?

If the baby teeth is already starting to shake, I would advise leaving them alone for natural exfoliation. It would not affect the eruption of the adult tooth. You could hasten the exfoliation of the baby teeth by asking your child to shake his tooth daily with his fingers or to push at them with his tongue.

However, if the adult teeth erupts through further and the baby teeth is still very very firm, extraction may be considered.

He can also have a check with the dentist in his primary school for further advise.

Hope this helps!

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