Why is it so painful for babies to get their first teeth, but when children’s teeth fall out, the new ones don’t hurt when they arrive?
Natalie Bradley
Chair of the British Dental Association’s young dentist committee and consultant in special care dentistry, London, UK
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The reason why teething is painful in babies and toddlers (which usually occurs between 8 months and 3 years of age) is because the teeth have to break through the gums for the first time.
When adult teeth erupt, they usually descend into the same space where the baby teeth have fallen out, so the gum is either thinner or already broken and therefore the process is normally painless. However, some adult teeth do cause pain when they come through, such as the wisdom teeth that erupt or push through the gums. This can hurt for the same reason why the arrival of baby teeth hurts.
Teething pain can be worse if the gum becomes inflamed because of the bacteria in the mouth getting into the area, so it is very important to keep the gums around erupting teeth (whether they are baby teeth, adult teeth or wisdom teeth) as clean as possible to prevent this.
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