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Growing Smiles
The process of teeth coming through, and the discomfort that can go with it. This page explains what teething is and where to take questions about it. It is lighter on clinical detail than most pages here, and the sources note explains why.
Teething is simply eruption — a tooth moving through the gum into the mouth. The AAPD describes the primary dentition as beginning with the eruption of the first tooth, usually about six months of age, and continuing until all primary teeth are erupted, approximately between two and six years.
So teething is not an event but a process spread over years, with quiet stretches and busier ones. Gums are commonly tender where a tooth is coming through, at any age — including later, when permanent teeth arrive.
When a new tooth pushes through, the gum above it can feel sore and strange for a while. It does not last. Something cool and clean to chew on often helps, and a grown-up can help you pick.
An honest note. Teething is heavily written about and much of that writing is not from dental bodies. This site publishes clinical statements only from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the AAPD does not publish a document dedicated to teething symptoms or their management. So this page describes what eruption is, says what is worth raising, and does not offer remedies. Your child’s doctor or dentist is the place for those.
Kept general, for the reason above:
That last point is the one worth carrying. Attributing a fever or illness to teething is a common way for something else to be missed, and this page will not encourage it.
Three things worth knowing.
Oral care does not wait for a full set. There is age-appropriate guidance on Brushing and Toothpaste by age.
Families are often surprised how early the first dental visit is recommended. See First dental visit.
This page does not recommend teething products, gels or medicines. Some marketed for teething are not suitable for infants. Ask your pharmacist, your child’s doctor or your dentist.
Teething itself rarely needs a dental appointment. What a dentist does is check that eruption is proceeding and that the mouth is healthy while it does.
Bring teething questions to a routine visit — they are a good use of one, and the first dental visit is recommended earlier than many families realise.
Contact your child’s doctor rather than the dentist if your child seems unwell in themselves, has a fever, or is not feeding. Teething and illness can coincide, and assuming the first can delay finding the second.
Is teething making my baby unwell? This page will not tell you it is, and would be doing you a disservice if it did. A child who is unwell should be assessed as an unwell child, by their doctor. Teething may well be happening at the same time; that is not the same as being the cause.
This page does not recommend remedies, because the site’s clinical source does not publish on it and improvising would be worse than saying so. Ask your pharmacist, your child’s doctor or your dentist — all three deal with this constantly.
Ask a pharmacist or your child’s doctor before using one. Products vary and some are not suitable for infants. This is not a question to settle from a website.
Not a claim this page will make in either direction. If your child has a fever, treat that as a fever and contact their doctor. Teething occurring at the same time does not change that.
The AAPD says usually about six months of age, with wide variation. See Baby teeth timeline.
Gums are commonly tender where any tooth is erupting, including permanent teeth in the mixed dentition years. See Sore gums.
This page is lighter on clinical statement than most. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry does not publish a document dedicated to teething symptoms or their management, and this site does not use clinical sources other than the AAPD. The documents below support the statements about eruption stages and gum assessment; everything else here is general description or a route to your dentist or doctor.
This website is for education only and does not replace care from your dentist, physician, or emergency services.