Oral Health Education Unit - FAQ - Tooth eruption

If you want to know the information about eruption time of permanent teeth, please refer to "Types of teeth" of "Knowing your teeth"

Generally speaking, the front teeth of infants will erupt between 6 to 10 months old. However, some babies will have their teeth earlier or later. The reason why your baby still hasn't got his teeth at 14 months of age could be that his teeth tend to erupt later, or it could be due to other factors. Therefore, you should bring your baby to a dentist for an oral check-up to find out the reason.

Orthodontic Treatment can be done to align irregular teeth. However, not everyone requires orthodontic treatment. You can consult an orthodontist about the details of the treatment and then decide whether you want to receive the treatment. If you want to find out more about irregular teeth, please click here.

The link below is a list of dentist who has been granted approval by the Dental Council of Hong Kong to use the specialist title of "Specialist in Orthodontics"

http://www.dchk.org.hk/en/list/dentist.htm

Your "Projected upper teeth" can be improved by orthodontic treatment. You should first consult a dentist to get advises on your situation, and then your dentist will refer you to an orthodontist for treatment. Currently, all the registered dentists in Hong Kong had undergone professional training, this is the list of the registered dentists:

http://www.dchk.org.hk/en/list/list.htm

This condition is referred to the "ugly duckling stage". This is only a transitional stage. Under normal circumstances, as the jaw matures and grows and the canines erupt, the incisors will straighten up and the gap will be closed. Meanwhile, no braces are needed.

For more information about tooth transition, please refer to "Tooth transition"

This situation is rather common in children during the tooth transition stage. Generally, the deciduous tooth will fall out naturally and the succeeding permanent tooth will erupt into its position.

As the permanent tooth erupts, it will also push the deciduous tooth until it is loosened and eventually falls out. Therefore, there is no need to extract the deciduous tooth pre-maturely. The deciduous tooth is small in size and will not obstruct the alignment of the permanent tooth.

For more information about tooth transition, please refer to "Tooth transition"

Having a gap in between teeth and slightly tilted front teeth are very common during tooth transition. The situation will improve when permanent canines erupt. However, you still need to consult your dentist to see if there are other special reasons leading to your situation in order to avoid delayed treatment. Please refer to the sections on "Irregular teeth" and "Orthodontic Treatment" on this website.

Moreover, it is normal for newly erupted permanent front teeth to be serrated on the cutting edge. It will be grinded flat in the future naturally. Therefore, there is no need to grind the serrated edge of your front teeth.

For information about wisdom teeth, please refer to "Impacted wisdom tooth" of "Oral Problem".