Temporary teeth, commonly known as 'baby teeth', are the first dentition of every person, from birth (in some cases, and in others, in the first months of life) until adolescence, as they are replaced by permanent teeth until approximately 12-13 years of age.
In most cases, their exfoliation or 'falling out' occurs when the permanent tooth is close to erupting in the mouth, which usually corresponds to when the root of the permanent tooth is more than 2/3 of its final length formed.
However, the root of the temporary or 'baby' tooth undergoes a completely opposite phenomenon that can sometimes be disconcerting for parents of children in Murcia and all over the world: the root 'disappears', precisely because of the growth of the permanent tooth, so that the crown usually falls out spontaneously, and with relative ease.
In other cases, we may encounter patients in whom it is necessary to extract a 'baby' tooth for various reasons, before the date on which it should be exfoliated or 'fall out', at which point, when it is removed from the mouth, we find that it does have a root.
In the latter cases, in the case of primary molars - in the posterior sectors - it may be necessary to place a space maintainer to prevent the adjacent teeth from moving out of place and preventing the normal eruption of the permanent tooth, which is a matter for the paediatric dentist who usually treats the patient.
