Tooth eruption is a process in tooth development in which the teeth enter the mouth and become visible. It is currently believed that the periodontal ligaments play an important role in tooth eruption. The first human teeth to appear, the deciduous (primary) teeth (also known as baby or milk teeth), erupt into the mouth from around 6 months until 2 years of age, in a process known as "teething". These teeth are the only ones in the mouth until a person is about 6 years old. At that time, the first permanent tooth erupts and begins a time in which there is a combination of primary and permanent teeth. This stage, known as the mixed stage, lasts until the last primary tooth is lost. Then, the remaining permanent teeth erupt into the mouth.
Famous quotes containing the words tooth and/or eruption:
“Had I but awakened from sleep
And called her name, she had heard
It may be, and had not stirred,
That now, it may be, has found
The horn’s sweet note and the tooth of the hound.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“I have done my fiddling so long under Vesuvius that I have almost forgotten to play, and can only wait for the eruption and think it long of coming. Literally no man has more wholly outlived life than I. And still it’s good fun.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)