About your Teeth

During the course of your lifetime, you will have two sets of teeth – primary (commonly known as baby) teeth, and secondary (permanent) teeth. The primary teeth start to appear at 6-8 months and normally by age 3, all 20 are in place.

Permanent teeth usually start to appear at around age 6. Except for wisdom teeth, all permanent teeth will be present between ages 12 and 14. These secondary teeth are followed by the 12-year molars and, finally, the wisdom teeth, which usually begin to break through from age 17 and onwards. There are 32 permanent teeth in all. However, few people have room for all 32, which is why wisdom teeth are usually removed.

The front teeth are called incisors. The pointy, fang-like teeth (sometimes referred to as vampire teeth) are canines. Next to those are pre-molars or bicuspids, followed by the back teeth, called the molars. You don’t get another set of teeth after your permanent teeth, so it’s important to take good care of them, brushing and flossing regularly as well as keeping up with check-ups by Dr. Parker.