Oh, the horrors of teething. It’s a painful process for both
babies and parents. Don’t you remember how painful it was when your baby teeth started
to come in? No, of course, you don’t! None of us do. But if you’re a parent
with a teething baby, you won’t soon forget the sleepless nights, the crying, and
the frustration that both baby and you go through. Actually, it’s too bad that we can’t
remember what teething was like because if we could, we might feel better
equipped to help our little one through the process. Like wouldn’t it be great
to know if some teeth hurt more than others when they are coming in so that we
could pay extra special attention to soothing baby when those start to make an
appearance?
Since adults can’t recall what the teething process feels like and babies can’t tell us in words what they are feeling, we have to
rely on information provided by experts such as the American Academy of
Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) to guide us. Fortunately, they know quite a bit
about deciduous teeth. Wait, deciduous what the what?! Deciduous teeth are what many of us
call baby, milk or primary teeth. They start developing in the embryo and lay under the gums just waiting to start erupting a few months after baby is born. And like most eruptions, they do not go unnoticed.