My seven year old granddaughter had her second pair of front teeth come out at age six. Yet her other baby teeth have not come out, just the two upper front teeth. My granddaughter has an older sister that is 24 years of age that has not lost her baby teeth other than just her two upper front teeth that are secondary. Both of them are overweight, yet have different mothers. Is this hereditary or is it due to their overweight?

ANSWER:

A child will lose their first baby tooth around 6 years old and will continue to lose baby teeth until around age 13 or 14. It is not uncommon for some people to not lose all of their baby teeth, in some cases it is because there is no adult tooth behind it or in some cases the adult tooth is trapped and cannot grow into the mouth. This can be hereditary or it can happen without cause. At this point it is not related to obesity. I would suggest you have your granddaughter evaluated by a dentist to see what the case may be for her.

Hope this helps,
Nick DeTure DMD
askadentist.com

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