My Amazing Body 3-minute video · ages 4-8 · free coloring page
Why do my baby teeth fall out?
One day, a tooth starts to wiggle. A little later, it falls right out! Why do baby teeth fall out?
3 min
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Free coloring page
The scene from the video as a coloring page, plus the three-sentence answer, the experiment, and a QR code back to this page. One sheet, US Letter, black and white.
The answer in three parts
Why?
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Your jaw keeps growing, but a tooth can't grow bigger.
By about three, you had twenty small baby teeth, just right for a little mouth. But once a tooth is made, it stays the same size. So your body has a clever plan, a second set of teeth, bigger and stronger.
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The grown-up teeth are already there, hiding inside your jaw.
They sit right under the baby teeth, growing slowly for years.
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Tiny helpers take the baby tooth's root apart.
The root is the part you cannot see. It holds the tooth tight, like the roots of a tree. When a grown-up tooth is ready to move up, tiny helpers take the baby tooth's root apart, bit by bit. With less root to hold it, the tooth gets loose. Wiggle, wiggle!
For grown-ups: When the tooth comes out there may be a tiny bit of blood, and that is okay - it stops soon. The grown-up tooth is already peeking out of the gap and grows into place over the next few weeks. Everybody has their own timing, so a little early or a little late is just fine.
When teeth come and go
- Tiny babyno teeth you can see
- About 3twenty baby teeth
- About 6the front teeth go first
- About 12the back teeth go last
A tiny experiment
Try it!
Count your teeth
You need: a mirror and a grown-up
- Look in a mirror, open wide, and count your teeth.
- Can you find a wobbly one, a gap, or a new tooth coming in?
- Ask a grown-up if you can count theirs. Who has more?
What happened? A wobbly tooth or a gap means a bigger, stronger tooth is getting ready to take its place.
Did you know?
You can push a wobbly tooth gently with your tongue, or with a clean finger. But please don't yank it out before it is ready!
Your grown-up teeth have to last your whole life. Nobody gets a third set! So brush them every morning and every night, and go easy on the sugary treats.
Your guide in this video
I'm Wiggly, a little baby tooth. Let's solve a wobbly mystery!
Wiggly is a little white baby tooth. A bigger grown-up tooth is waiting right underneath.
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