At some point every parent ends up with a phone flashlight in one hand, a toddler’s lip pulled down with the other, squinting at a molar and wondering whether it’s early, late, or in the wrong place entirely.

A baby teeth chart answers most of that in one glance. My take, before the chart: the order matters more than the exact month, and the ranges are wide because children don’t read charts.

Baby teeth chart: the order and the timing

Here’s the baby teeth order with the typical ranges for coming in and falling out, straight from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s dental growth and development chart.

Tooth                                                     Comes in                  Falls out

Lower central incisors                      5 to 8 months           6 to 7 years

Upper central incisors                      6 to 10 months         7 to 8 years

Lower lateral incisors                        7 to 10 months         7 to 8 years

Upper lateral incisors                        8 to 12 months         8 to 9 years

First molars (upper and lower)         11 to 18 months        9 to 11 years (upper)
                                                                                              10 to 12 years (lower)

Canines (upper and lower)               16 to 20 months       11 to 12 years (upper)
                                                                                               9 to 11 years (lower)

Second molars (upper and lower)    20 to 30 months      9 to 12 years (upper)
                                                                                               11 to 13 years (lower)

Notice the canines. They show up after the first molars, which surprises a lot of parents who expect teeth to march neatly from front to back. They don’t, and that little jump is one of the most common reasons people think something is off.

When do baby teeth come in?

The first baby tooth usually arrives between 5 and 8 months, and it’s almost always a lower central incisor, one of the two bottom front teeth.

The top front teeth follow a couple of months later. Then come the teeth on either side of them, then the first molars, then the canines (the pointy ones), and last, the second molars way in the back. By around age 3, most children have the full set of 20.

If the teething part is what’s keeping you up at night, #1 on teething symptoms covers what’s normal and what isn’t.

Are baby teeth coming in out of order normal?

Usually, yes. The sequence above is the typical one, and plenty of healthy babies shuffle it a little, like an upper tooth arriving before a lower one.

One mom came in with a printed chart in one hand and her 15-month-old on her hip. She pointed at the molars and said, “She skipped the pointy ones. Are they missing?” I ran a finger over the gum beside the gap and felt the canine sitting right there, waiting its turn. Her daughter was following the script perfectly; the front-to-back picture in her head just made it look like a typo.

Timing varies too. Girls tend to run slightly ahead of boys, babies born prematurely often run late, and a lot of it is simply inherited. If you were a late teether, there’s a decent chance your baby will be too.

What I watch for in the chair is the bigger picture. Are teeth arriving roughly in pairs, left and right? Is the enamel smooth and white? If yes, a shuffled order is mostly trivia.

When do baby teeth fall out?

Baby teeth fall out in roughly the same order they came in, starting with the lower front teeth around age 6 (anywhere from 4 to 8 is in range).

Next go the upper front teeth, then the laterals. The canines and molars are last, usually between 9 and 12.

Here’s my favorite bit of dental biology. The adult tooth developing underneath dissolves the baby tooth’s root as it moves up, which is why a tooth that falls out has no root on it. Your child’s body quietly reabsorbed it to clear the path. The tooth fairy gets a hollow little cap, and nobody tells her why. For the full shedding timeline, see #21 on when children lose teeth.

What are “shark teeth”?

Shark teeth are when a permanent lower incisor comes in behind a baby tooth that hasn’t fallen out yet, so you see two rows.

It looks alarming, and it’s very common. The baby tooth usually loosens on its own within a few weeks. If it hangs on, a dentist can take it out in seconds, and your child gets a story for school.

Do baby teeth matter if they fall out anyway?

Yes, a lot. Baby teeth are placeholders and training wheels for the whole face.

Each one holds a spot in the arch for the adult tooth that will replace it. The second baby molars are especially important, saving space for the adult premolars until somewhere between 9 and 13. Lose one early to decay and the neighbors drift into the gap, which is a common route to braces.

Baby teeth also shape speech. Try saying “th” with no front teeth and you’ll hear it.

And they shape the jaw. Chewing real food is one of the signals that tells the jaw to grow wider, which matters for where the adult teeth land and how much room there is for the tongue and the airway. That’s the part of pediatric oral health I care about most as a functional dentist, because a well-grown jaw sets up easier breathing for life.

Last one: an abscess on a baby tooth sits right next to the adult tooth developing underneath it. An infection there can leave marks on the enamel of the tooth that replaces it. #8 on cavities in baby teeth goes deeper on this.

What a baby teeth chart can’t tell you

A chart tells you what’s typical. It can’t tell you whether your particular child is fine.

Late teethers usually are fine. But if there are no teeth at all by 18 months, or teeth come in with visible pits or brown spots, get a look from a dentist. Some developmental issues show up in the enamel first, and enamel is easier to protect when you catch it early. #22 on white spots on teeth covers what those marks can mean.

If you only read one paragraph

Baby teeth come in from the bottom front outward starting around 5 to 8 months, and all 20 are usually in by age 3. They start falling out in roughly the same order around age 6, with the last molars going as late as 12 or 13. Wide variation is normal, and the order matters more than the month. Keep those baby teeth healthy, because they’re holding the seats for the adult teeth behind them.

Quick questions

How many baby teeth do children have? Twenty. Ten on top, ten on the bottom: four incisors, two canines, and four molars in each arch. Adults end up with 28 to 32, because the permanent molars come in behind the baby teeth instead of replacing any of them, starting with the 6-year molars.

My baby is 12 months old with no teeth. Should I worry? Probably not. The first tooth typically arrives between 5 and 8 months on the AAPD chart, and some babies wait past their first birthday, often because a parent did too. If there are still no teeth at all by 18 months, that’s the point to get a dentist’s eyes on it.

Why did my child’s baby tooth fall out with no root? Because the root was dissolved on purpose. As the adult tooth moves up, it resorbs the baby tooth’s root until only the crown is left, held by a little gum tissue. That’s why loose teeth wiggle for weeks and then pop out with almost no blood.

Is it normal for baby teeth to have gaps between them? Yes, and it’s a good sign. Adult teeth are much bigger than baby teeth, so spaces between baby teeth leave room for them to fit later. Baby teeth that are tightly packed with no gaps can hint that the jaw needs more room, which is worth mentioning at a dental visit.

Dr. Staci Whitman, DMD, FMCP, is a board-certified dentist and is certified in functional medicine. She is based in Portland, Oregon and is the author of SPIT (Crown, 2027).