axelrod@gwen.DEC (02/10/86)
[] > Baby teeth DO NOT have roots. Check it out with a > pediodontist. Did you ever REALLY look at a baby tooth that > has fallen out? A fallen out tooth is not an appropriate candidate for the study of healthy baby teeth. The roots were resorbed as part of the process of eruption, under pressure from the advancing permanent teeth. It is the permanent teeth that don't have roots at first. Their roots are fully completed around 9-10 years of age for central incisors and first molars, with other teeth's roots completed at various times up to 18-25 years for 3rd molars. The moral is: keep all teeth healthy, because permanent tooth development is a continuous process that can be disrupted by disease in the baby teeth. (I'm not a dentist and my sources are old but probably reliable for this subject: Gray's Anatomy (great photo of a 4 year old's skull on page 882), and Review of Dentistry, Trapozzano Ed., Saunders, Philadelphia, 1950, P 437 )