Dental Health Magazine Dental Health Digital Issue | Page 10

10
Issue #5, March 2017
Will dentist extract the
wrong tooth?
Article written by Dr. Tiew Soon Tat
Will dentist extract the wrong
tooth?
Children normally shed their baby
teeth at the age of 6 to 12. At the same
time,permanent teeth will be emerging,
forming a mixed dentition. How to
Generally,
baby teeth
are fairer and
whiter, while
permanent
teeth are
yellowish in
colour.
differentiate baby tooth and permanent
tooth? Generally, baby teeth are fairer
and whiter, while permanent teeth are
yellowish in colour. This is due to a
higher calcium composition in enamel
of permanent teeth compared to baby
teeth, causing higher transparency,
revealing the yellowish essence of
permanent teeth.
Recently, a cute mum asked me:
”Dr Tiew, how can you tell which of my
child’s tooth is either baby tooth or
permanent tooth? He lost a tooth before
but I could not remember which one. Is it
possible that you may extract the wrong
tooth?” I was surprised by this question
because dentist should not make this
mistake. Therefore a common sense to
me may be unfamiliar to the parents.
After reassuring the parent, she was
relieved to let her child proceed with
the treatment. This incident had inspired
me to write this article, so that parents
could learn how to differentiate baby
tooth and permanent tooth.
4 differences of baby tooth and
permanent tooth
Children normally lose their baby tooth
at the age of 6 to 12, at the same time
permanent tooth emerges, forming a
mixture of baby teeth and permanent
teeth. How to differentiate baby tooth