What is an Erupted Tooth?
An erupted tooth refers to a tooth that emerges and shows itself from the gums and other surrounding tissue. It is the final stage of odontogenesis or tooth development and occurs at specific times for specific tooth types. It is widely believed that the periodontal fibers or ligaments play a big role in the process of tooth eruption. These ligaments are the ones that create the attachment between the tooth and the alveolar bone.
The first teeth to erupt are called primary or milk teeth. This usually happens at around six months and may continue for up to two years of age. These first set of teeth will stay on for about 6 years. Depending on the child’s dental health, each of these primary teeth will eventually fall off and be replaced with a new set of teeth called permanent teeth. But since each of the primary teeth will fall off on their own, it is also common for some permanent tooth to erupt while there are still primary teeth remaining. This part of the tooth development process is called the mixed stage and will last by the time the last of the primary tooth has fallen off.
Whether a tooth is primary or permanent, once it appears from the gums, it is considered as erupted. And although there is no exact timeline for different people when it comes to the schedule of tooth eruption for the different types of teeth, most people still have basically the same tooth eruption pattern. In the first two years of life, most people will have about 20 primary teeth. This part of the tooth development stage is called the primary dentition stage. This will then be followed by the mixed stage when the first permanent teeth erupt while some of the primary teeth are still present. The permanent dentition stage officially starts at the first eruption of a permanent tooth. Normally, people will have 32 permanent teeth.
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