Most babies get their first tooth between 6 and 10 months of age, and the full set of 20 baby teeth is usually in place by age 3. Once you can feel a tooth bulging under the gum, it takes roughly 2 months on average to fully emerge, though individual teeth can push through in as little as one month or take up to about five.
When Baby Teeth Appear
The lower front teeth (central incisors) are almost always the first to show up, typically arriving between 5 and 8 months. The upper front teeth follow at around 6 to 10 months. From there, teeth tend to fill in from front to back, with a few overlaps along the way.
Here’s the general order and age range for baby teeth:
- Central incisors (front teeth): 5 to 10 months (lower), 6 to 10 months (upper)
- Lateral incisors (next to front teeth): 7 to 12 months
- First molars: 11 to 18 months
- Canines (the pointed teeth): 16 to 20 months
- Second molars (back of the mouth): 20 to 30 months
These windows are wide for a reason. A baby who doesn’t get a first tooth until 10 or 11 months is still perfectly on track. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry notes that many otherwise normal infants don’t follow the standard schedule exactly. If your child hasn’t gotten any teeth by 9 months, it’s worth mentioning to your pediatrician, but even that threshold is a soft guideline rather than a hard deadline.
How Long Each Tooth Takes to Push Through
A prospective study tracking baby tooth eruption found that the average time from a noticeable gum bulge to a fully erupted tooth was about 2 months, with a range of roughly 1 to 5 months. But the most uncomfortable part, when the tooth is actively cutting through the gum tissue, is much shorter.
The initial breakthrough (from a palpable bump to the first visible edge of the tooth poking through) typically happens within about 5 to 35 days, depending on the tooth. Lower front teeth tend to take the longest at this stage, averaging around 5 weeks of visible gum swelling before breaking through. Upper molars and lateral incisors tend to be faster, often cutting through the gum in under two weeks. After the tooth breaks the surface, it continues rising into position over the following weeks, but this later phase is generally painless.
When Permanent Teeth Replace Baby Teeth
The transition from baby teeth to adult teeth starts around age 6 and stretches into the teen years. The first permanent teeth to appear are the first molars, which emerge behind the baby teeth at the back of the mouth between ages 5.5 and 7. These don’t replace any baby teeth; they simply grow in where there was previously bare gum.
Around the same time, the lower front baby teeth start getting loose and fall out, replaced by permanent central incisors between ages 6 and 7. The process then moves outward and backward:
- Lower lateral incisors: 7 to 8 years
- Upper central incisors: 7 to 8 years
- Upper lateral incisors: 8 to 9 years
- Lower canines: 9 to 11 years
- Premolars (both sets): 10 to 13 years
- Upper canines: 11 to 12 years
- Second molars: 12 to 14 years
Most children have 28 of their 32 permanent teeth by age 13. The last four, the wisdom teeth, arrive much later.
Wisdom Teeth: The Final Stage
Wisdom teeth (third molars) typically begin pushing through the gums between ages 17 and 21, though the full eruption window extends from 17 to 30 years. Research on third molar eruption found that complete emergence happens at an average age of about 20 years. Some people’s wisdom teeth never fully emerge or never develop at all, which is completely normal and increasingly common.
What Affects Timing
Genetics play the largest role in when teeth appear. Research has identified specific genetic factors that influence not just the age teeth emerge but also the order they come in and whether the left and right sides erupt symmetrically. If you or your partner were late teethers, your baby likely will be too.
Sex makes a small difference as well. Girls tend to get both baby and permanent teeth slightly earlier than boys. Nutrition and overall health also play a role: premature birth, low birth weight, and certain nutritional deficiencies can delay eruption by several months. But in most cases, a baby who seems “late” is simply at the far end of a normal range that is wider than most parents expect.
What Teething Looks and Feels Like
Before a baby tooth breaks through, you’ll often notice increased drooling, a desire to chew on anything within reach, and irritability. The gum over the incoming tooth may look swollen or red. Some babies run a very low-grade temperature (below 100.4°F), though teething does not cause true fevers.
Symptoms tend to be worst in the day or two right around when the tooth pierces the gum, then fade quickly. The front teeth are generally easier on babies than molars, which have a broader surface area that has to push through more tissue. The canines, with their sharp single point, tend to fall somewhere in between. Many parents notice that the first few teeth cause the most distress, while later teeth seem to bother babies less, possibly because both parent and child have adapted to the process.
For permanent teeth, the experience is usually painless. Children may feel mild pressure or soreness in the gums as an adult tooth pushes out a baby tooth, but it rarely causes the kind of fussiness associated with infant teething. Wisdom teeth are the exception: they can cause significant gum tenderness, jaw stiffness, and swelling as they emerge in the late teens and early twenties, especially if there isn’t enough room for them to come in straight.