ADA tooth eruption and shedding charts: when each primary tooth comes in and falls out, and when each permanent tooth arrives

What it says#

Two one-page charts, each a list of teeth with an age window beside it. The primary chart gives an erupt column and a shed column; the permanent chart gives an erupt column only.

Primary, upper teeth: central incisor erupts at 8 to 12 months and sheds at 6 to 7 years; lateral incisor 9 to 13 months, sheds 7 to 8 years; canine (cuspid) 16 to 22 months, sheds 10 to 12 years; first molar 13 to 19 months, sheds 9 to 11 years; second molar 25 to 33 months, sheds 10 to 12 years.

Primary, lower teeth: second molar erupts at 23 to 31 months and sheds at 10 to 12 years; first molar 14 to 18 months, sheds 9 to 11 years; canine (cuspid) 17 to 23 months, sheds 9 to 12 years; lateral incisor 10 to 16 months, sheds 7 to 8 years; central incisor 6 to 10 months, sheds 6 to 7 years.

Permanent, upper teeth: central incisor 7 to 8 years; lateral incisor 8 to 9; canine (cuspid) 11 to 12; first premolar (first bicuspid) 10 to 11; second premolar (second bicuspid) 10 to 12; first molar 6 to 7; second molar 12 to 13; third molar (wisdom tooth) 17 to 21.

Permanent, lower teeth: third molar (wisdom tooth) 17 to 21 years; second molar 11 to 13; first molar 6 to 7; second premolar (second bicuspid) 11 to 12; first premolar (first bicuspid) 10 to 12; canine (cuspid) 9 to 10; lateral incisor 7 to 8; central incisor 6 to 7.

The surrounding text on the ADA's eruption charts page is short and worth quoting whole, because it is the framing a parent needs: teeth vary in size, shape and their location in the jaws, and these differences enable teeth to work together to help you chew, speak and smile; at birth people usually have 20 baby (primary) teeth, which start to come in (erupt) at about 6 months of age; they fall out (shed) at various times throughout childhood; and by age 21, all 32 of the permanent teeth have usually erupted.

Two patterns fall out of the numbers once you lay them side by side. First, the lower tooth of a pair generally arrives before its upper partner: lower primary central incisor 6 to 10 months against upper 8 to 12; lower permanent canine 9 to 10 years against upper 11 to 12; lower permanent second molar 11 to 13 against upper 12 to 13. The premolars are the exception, where the upper first premolar (10 to 11) leads the lower (10 to 12). Second, every entry is a range, and several of them are wide: the upper primary second molar has an eight-month eruption window, the lower primary canine a six-month window, the primary canines and second molars a two-year shedding window, and the third molars a four-year eruption window. The ADA does not print a single date anywhere on either chart, and its own wording for shedding is "at various times throughout childhood." Wide normal variation is the rule here, not the exception, and a child who sits outside a window is a reason to look at a radiograph and a family history, not a diagnosis by itself.

Who it applies to#

Every pediatric patient and everyone who answers the parent's question. The hygienist gets asked it at the prophy, the assistant gets asked it in the hallway, and the front desk gets it on the phone. The charts are published on MouthHealthy, the ADA's consumer-facing site, precisely so they can be handed over, and both are free one-page PDFs.

They do not cover calcification, crown completion or root completion, which is what an orthodontic or trauma workup often actually needs; those tables live elsewhere. They are not a schedule for any individual child. And the third molar row, 17 to 21 years, tells you when a wisdom tooth typically erupts and nothing at all about whether it should be removed.

What changed#

Nothing in the numbers. Both PDFs carry a 2012 ADA copyright, and the same data has been circulating in the ADA's patient education since at least the JADA For the Dental Patient pieces on the primary teeth (November 2005, page 1619) and the permanent teeth (January 2006, page 127), both of which are catalogued in the ADA Commons archive. The ADA notes on those archive records that the collection spans decades and that the content of older articles linked there may be out of date, which is a fair caution on the patient articles; the two chart PDFs on MouthHealthy are the current version the ADA hands out today.

Where the source is#

The link under the title opens Eruption Charts on MouthHealthy.org, the ADA's consumer site, which carries the short framing paragraph quoted above and links the two chart PDFs. Both PDFs, Primary Tooth Development and Permanent Tooth Development, were downloaded and read in full for this entry, and every erupt and shed range above was copied from them; each carries the line "copyright 2012, American Dental Association. All Rights Reserved." The two ADA Commons records listed in the downloads give the formal citations for the matching JADA For the Dental Patient articles, with their page numbers, publication dates and DOIs; the full text of those articles sits behind the JADA site, which did not answer for this entry, so only the catalogue records were read. Both chart PDFs are free, and the ADA distributes them as patient handouts.