Permanent tooth eruption

Dental maturation is the process that includes the loss of primary teeth and the eruption and calcification of permanent teeth. This process of tooth replacement begins in infancy and ends practically at the onset of puberty and can be influenced by numerous variables that determine both the time elapsed and the tooth structure.

The human species has twenty primary teeth (also known as deciduous) and thirty-two permanent teeth. The dental lamina is a structure originating in the oral epithelium during the embryonic period that indicates the location of the future dentition. The permanent dental primordia or germs are observed during development between 10 and 13 weeks of gestation and the permanent teeth will develop from an extension of the dental lamina, called the successional lamina.

Tooth eruption occurs in three phases, an initial phase in which only the primary teeth are visible, a second phase of mixed dentition in which primary and permanent teeth coexist, and the last phase in which, after the last deciduous tooth falls out, the dentition is permanent or permanent.

The eruption of the permanent dentition begins at six years of age with the first molar, without any exfoliation of the primary tooth, which means that it can go unnoticed. This is the beginning of the first phase of mixed dentition, which will end when all the incisors and the first permanent molars appear. As puberty approaches, the eruption of the remaining teeth in the lateral sectors takes place, initiating the second phase of mixed dentition, with great individual variations, influenced hormonally and with a generalized advancement in girls from 6 to 12 months with respect to boys. Other factors such as nutrition, caries or trauma to the primary teeth and ethnicity can also influence dental maturity.