How to Help Kids Cope With Losing Baby Teeth

Baby teeth, also known as primary teeth, fall out on their own starting when a child is about 5 to 7 years old. The teeth fall out to make room for the permanent teeth, the teeth that a person should keep for the rest of his life. Some kids are excited about losing their teeth while others find the situation worrisome. There are ways that parents and other caregivers can help a child deal with the loss of teeth.

Things You'll Need

• Children's book about losing baby teeth

Instructions

1. Talk to the child and reassure her that losing teeth is a normal part of growing up and that it happens to everyone. Losing teeth may be a little scary, but it means that you are healthy and the body is acting normally.

2. Tell a child whose teeth are falling out sooner or later than their friends' or classmates' teeth that everyone is different. Just as some people are tall or short, thin or chubby, a child's teeth falls out at different rates. The teeth fall out when they are ready to fall out.

3. Buy the child books about children losing their teeth. Let the child read the book himself or read the book to him. The story will help the child to understand that losing teeth is a sign that he is growing up. Two books suggested by the Parent website are "Tabitha's Terrifically Tough Tooth" by Charlotte Middleton (Penguin Putman, 2001) and "Arthur's Tooth" by Marc Brown (Little Brown, 1986).

References

• Mayo Clinic: At what age do shildren start losing their babcy teeth?
• Parents: Losing Baby Teeth