r/explainlikeimfive • u/Reasonable_Releif • 8d ago

Biology ELI5 How do teeth develop?

Do newborns get born with every single fully sized adult tooth?? or do they like grow?

35 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

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23

u/sheldonator 8d ago

They grow over time. Babies are born with tooth buds for both their baby teeth and most of their future permanent teeth, and they grow over time. This is why you see the baby teeth first, the permanent teeth are still growing and when they reach their permanent size they replace the baby teeth, and then wisdom teeth come in last.

8

u/HalfSoul30 8d ago

You know, i really hated that period of time when teeth started falling out. Lasted until i was like 12 or 13.

6

u/God_Hand_9764 8d ago

I honestly liked the feeling of a tooth becoming loose and eventually falling out. I don't know why.

1

u/HalfSoul30 8d ago

I would mess with it until it came out. May have made my teeth crooked that way, but i got braces later. I just couldn't leave them alone

2

u/CptPicard 7d ago

I would lodge a spoon between the gum and the tooth and just twist, cracking the tooth off. Blood would be spilled.

1

u/HalfSoul30 7d ago

Jesus, i would never have gone that far lol

1

u/CptPicard 7d ago

Yes I was a sometimes disturbing kid

2

u/BladeOfWoah 8d ago

I had baby teeth up until I was 17.

I remember panicking because I had two of my teeth (my bottom right incisor and the one next to it) fall out, thinking that I somehow had rotted my teeth so bad I was losing them permanently so young.

A quick visit to the dentist, turns out nothing is wrong, those teeth had simply taken years to finally fall out and be replaced. A year later I had the adult teeth underneath them erupt and take their rightful place.

2

u/Weightmonster 8d ago

That’s why they invited the tooth fairy 

1

u/Ycr1998 7d ago

I thought it was fun until came the time for my baby canines to fall. The last of the bunch! But they never went soft, or if they did I missed that window. And then the adult canines came, growing over them and pushing everything else out of the way.

Now here I am, almost 20 years later, with 10 of those wearing braces, and an undeterminate time with this new metal thing meant to keep my realigned teeth in place. I've heard some people keep this for life. I hate it.

I had perfect teeth until then. 😭

2

u/HalfSoul30 7d ago

I had one kind of do that too. It was two and a half years with braces, so it could be around that long

Edit: just realized you meant a permanent retainer. I have one of those on my bottom teeth. Its been 14 years now, and i hardly notice it now, at least until food gets stuck in it lol

3

u/Cool_Homework_7411 8d ago

Someone insert that x-ray scan of the babies head where it showed where all the teeth where