Baby Teeth Chart: When Every Tooth Comes In and Falls Out

Children get twenty baby teeth, starting around six months and finishing near age three, then lose them in roughly the same order between ages six and twelve while thirty-two permanent teeth take their place. The charts below give the age range for every tooth, coming in and falling out. Read them as a guide rather than a schedule: a few months either side of these ranges is normal, and the order matters more than the exact age. Here’s the full timeline, what to expect at each stage, and the specific timing differences worth having checked.

Quick answer: Baby teeth usually start coming in around 6 months, beginning with the two lower front teeth, and all 20 are typically in by age 3. They start falling out around age 6, generally in the order they arrived, and the last ones go around age 12. Permanent teeth replace them as they go, with the first permanent molars arriving around age 6 behind the baby teeth without replacing anything.

Baby Teeth Chart: When Each Tooth Comes In

Teeth erupt in pairs, one on each side, and the lower teeth usually arrive slightly before their upper counterparts. The first molars break the front-to-back pattern by coming in before the canines. The eruption ranges published for primary teeth are wide on purpose, because healthy children vary by several months in either direction.

Tooth	Upper teeth	Lower teeth
Central incisors (front)	8 to 12 months	6 to 10 months
Lateral incisors	9 to 13 months	10 to 16 months
First molars	13 to 19 months	14 to 18 months
Canines (cuspids)	16 to 22 months	17 to 23 months
Second molars	25 to 33 months	23 to 31 months

The Order Baby Teeth Come In

The sequence is more reliable than the calendar. The two bottom front teeth arrive first, followed by the four top front teeth, then the lateral incisors filling in beside them. Next come the first molars, which surprises parents who expect the canines to arrive in order, and the canines slot into the gap afterward. The second molars finish the set somewhere between two and three years old. If a tooth arrives out of sequence, that’s usually still normal; what draws attention is a large asymmetry, like a tooth on one side erupting many months before its twin on the other, which is worth having looked at. A small number of babies are born with a tooth already through, and some don’t get their first until well after their first birthday, and both usually turn out fine.

How Many Teeth Kids Have at Each Age

By the first birthday most children have somewhere between two and eight teeth, usually the front ones. By eighteen months the first molars and lateral incisors have generally arrived, bringing the count to around twelve. By age two most children have around sixteen, and by age three the full set of twenty is usually in: ten on top, ten on the bottom, made up of eight incisors, four canines, and eight molars. That’s the complete primary dentition, and it stays that way for about three years. Around age four you may notice gaps opening between the front teeth, which alarms some parents but is a good sign: the jaw is growing to make room for the permanent teeth, which are considerably wider than the baby teeth they replace. Crowded, gap-free baby teeth are more likely to predict crowding later than spaced ones.

When Baby Teeth Fall Out: The Shedding Chart

Baby teeth generally leave in the order they arrived, starting around age six with the lower front teeth and finishing around age twelve with the second molars. The whole process spans six years, with quiet stretches in between.

Tooth	Age it falls out
Central incisors (front)	6 to 7 years
Lateral incisors	7 to 8 years
First molars	9 to 11 years
Canines (cuspids)	9 to 12 years
Second molars	10 to 12 years

A tooth becomes loose because the permanent tooth underneath is dissolving its root, so a tooth that’s ready comes out with little blood and no real pain. Forcing one that isn’t ready causes both. We covered the readiness test and the safe technique in our guide to pulling a loose tooth.

Permanent Teeth: What Comes In and When

Thirty-two permanent teeth eventually replace the twenty baby teeth, which means twelve of them have no baby predecessor at all. The first permanent molars arrive around age six, behind the last baby molar, with nothing falling out to announce them, and many parents never realize these are permanent teeth. The central and lateral incisors follow between six and eight as the front baby teeth are shed. Premolars, which replace the baby molars, come in between nine and twelve, and the canines around the same window. The second permanent molars arrive around ages eleven to thirteen, again at the back with no tooth shed. Wisdom teeth, if they come at all, appear between seventeen and twenty-one. The years between six and twelve, when both sets are present at once, are called mixed dentition, and the uneven, gappy smile of that period is entirely normal.

When Tooth Timing Is Worth Checking

Variation is the rule, so most timing differences need nothing. A handful are worth an exam. No teeth at all by around eighteen months is worth a look, as is a full year’s delay compared with the ranges above. A baby tooth lost before about age four, usually from decay or injury, matters because the neighboring teeth can drift into the space meant for the permanent tooth. A baby tooth that hangs on past age thirteen, or a permanent tooth that erupts behind a baby tooth that hasn’t loosened, is worth checking, since the adult tooth may need a clear path. Large asymmetry between the two sides, teeth erupting badly out of sequence, or a permanent tooth that hasn’t appeared six months after its baby predecessor came out are all reasons to have the developing teeth reviewed, sometimes with an X-ray to confirm they’re present and correctly positioned.

How We Track Your Child’s Tooth Development

At every checkup we chart which teeth are in, which are on the way, and whether the sequence and spacing are developing the way they should, and from around age six we’re also watching how the permanent teeth are lining up and whether the jaw has room for them. That’s routine, and it’s how the timing problems above get caught early, when the fix is small. It also means the answer to the question most parents actually have, whether their child is on track, comes from their own child’s chart rather than from an average. Regular kids dental cleanings and exams are where that tracking happens. If your child hasn’t started dental visits yet, the recommendation is to begin by the first birthday or within six months of that first tooth, and our first visit page explains how we run that appointment. To book, or to ask about a tooth that seems early or late, call us at (201) 500-6314.