Teething chart: which tooth comes when, on a real mouth map

The tooth map

Enter your child's age in months, then tap the teeth that have come through. Each tooth's name and normal window appears as you tap.

The first tooth — normal at four months, normal at twelve

Most babies cut their first tooth between six and ten months, and it's almost always one of the bottom middle two. But that is an average, not a rule.

A tooth at four months is normal; none until twelve months is normal too. A few babies are born with a tooth, a few wait past their first birthday — rare at both ends, but not illness.

One boundary is worth remembering: if no tooth has appeared by eighteen months, mention it at the next doctor visit. Even then it's usually nothing — but it's worth the question.

The order is more fixed than the timing

When teeth arrive varies enormously between babies. The order barely varies at all: bottom middle pair, top middle pair, the ones beside them, first molars, canines, second molars.

The canine arriving after the molar surprises everyone — a gap opens and it looks as if a tooth was skipped. That gap belongs to the canine, and it fills on schedule, around sixteen to twenty-two months.

The full set of twenty is usually in by two and a half to three years. Then nothing new until about six, when the milk teeth start giving way to permanent ones.

What teething causes — and what it doesn't

Teething brings swollen gums, heavy drooling, a baby that chews everything, crankiness, maybe a slightly raised temperature. All of it passes as the tooth breaks through.

But high fever, diarrhoea and vomiting are not teething. This is the page's most important line, because 'it's just teeth' is how a chest infection or a stomach bug gets missed. Those symptoms mean a doctor, not a teether.

For sore gums, two things work: a clean, cooled teething ring, and a clean finger rubbed gently along the gum. Not teething gels or powders without a prescription, and never a bead necklace — those carry a real strangulation and choking risk.

Brushing starts with the first tooth

From the first tooth, brush twice a day with a soft baby brush and a rice-grain smear of fluoride toothpaste. 'They're only milk teeth' is the wrong instinct — milk teeth decay fast, and the decay can reach the permanent teeth forming underneath.

The night bottle is the biggest enemy. Babies who fall asleep with milk pooling in the mouth get decay in the top front teeth first — 'bottle caries'. Make the order: milk, then a sip of water or a quick clean, then bed.

A first dental visit by the first birthday is a good habit. Even when all is well, you come away with the right technique and a routine.

Questions

Q: Teeth are late — is it a calcium deficiency? — Almost never. Timing is mostly inherited. If either parent teethed late, the child may too. Remember the eighteen-month line; before that, wait.

Q: The teeth are coming in the wrong order — problem? — Usually not. Small deviations in order are common. Teeth arriving and healthy matters; the exact sequence doesn't.

Q: There are gaps between the milk teeth — is that bad? — It's good. Those gaps are reserved space for the permanent teeth, which are bigger. Tightly packed milk teeth can foreshadow crowding later.

Q: Heavy drooling — teeth on the way? — Maybe, but not necessarily. Salivary glands simply kick in around three to four months. Drooling plus a swollen gum plus frantic chewing — then a tooth is close.