When a baby begins teething, there is no set pattern on when it will begin, how long it will take and how painful it will be. For one baby cutting a tooth might happen overnight without pain, while another child might have to go through a long, drawn out and painful experience. You may sometimes visibly see a rise or lump in the gum for several weeks, while sometimes there may be no visible clue at all until the tooth actually appears. The process of teething often follows hereditary patterns, so if the mother and father teethed early or late, your baby may follow the same pattern. On average the first tooth comes in during the seventh month, although it can arrive as early as three months, as late as a year, or in rare cases even earlier or later.
Most children have a full set of primary teeth by the time they are around two or three years old.
These teeth usually last until about the age of six, when the teeth that were first to appear become loose and fall out as the second teeth begin to push through the gums. The primary teeth continue falling out until roughly the age of twelve. Again, these ages mentioned above are only averages and your child may follow an earlier or later pattern. The following is the most common pattern in which your baby s teeth will usually appear. The symptoms of teething vary from child to child and opinions as to exactly what these symptoms are and how painful teething actually is varies between physicians and between parents.