When your children are babies, teething can be a trying time for both parents and children alike, but once they turn 3, most children have their primary teeth. Around the age of 6 years old, baby teeth start to fall out to make room for their permanent adult teeth. By the time your child turns 13, all their baby teeth have fallen out and their adult teeth have come in.
Some children get excited when they have a loose tooth, especially if they are waiting for the Tooth Fairy. On the other hand, other children may be afraid that losing their tooth will hurt. Losing baby teeth is far less pain than having them come in, but it can still be challenging-particularly if the loose tooth seems to be hanging on forever. Although it’s best to let nature takes its course and have the tooth fall out on its own, there are times when divine intervention is needed.
So, what’s the best way to help remove a loose tooth that doesn’t involve a string, a doorknob and a slamming door? Check out five easy ways to extract a loose tooth sans string and a doorknob.
- Wiggling the tooth:Have your child wiggle their loose tooth with their tongue or using a back-and-forth motion with CLEAN fingers. This is probably the most painless and can easiest way to help the process along.
- Eating hard foods:Foods that are harder to chew, such as crisp apples or crunchy carrots will make the entire process quick and painless.
- Using dental floss:If the tooth is very loose but won’t come out naturally, try gently wedging dental floss in between the gum line and the tooth and yank outward. For a better grip, you can use a flossing pick.
- Gently use tweezers:Another way to remove your child’s loose tooth if it’s very loose is using clean tweezers. This works well when the tooth is very loose but doesn’t won’t come out. You can gently wiggle the tooth free with sterilized tweezers. This is also an excellent way to avoid possible bacterial contamination from busy little fingers.
- Use Sterile Gauze: If you’re apprehensive of putting point tweezers in your little one’s mouth, you can use a piece of sterile gauze to grip the tooth and gently twist it. If this causes pain or if the tooth doesn’t seem to want to move, you can try to loosen it a little more with gentle twisting motions.
If all else fails and the tooth won’t budge, simply let it fall out on its own. This is the best option even for those impatient kiddos waiting for the Tooth Fairy! Remind them that even though they are eager to see what they will find under their pillow, trying to remove a tooth that isn’t ready to come out can cause dental issues down the road.
