WatchJaw Growth & Development
How a child's jaw and bite take shape, stage by stage
Tooth development starts long before the first tooth appears. It can begin as early as the second month of pregnancy, and it doesn't finish until the late teenage years. Parents who know roughly what each stage should look like tend to flag the small things early, and to know what's worth raising at a checkup. This video traces that whole timeline.
Baby teeth do more than fill out a smile. Each one holds a place for the adult tooth coming in behind it, a job important enough that the video spends time on how and when they emerge. Lose a primary tooth too early or out of sequence and the neighboring teeth can tip into the gap, and the permanent tooth below can struggle to erupt properly. Holding that space open is the job of a small dental appliance called a space maintainer.
Jaw growth gets its own stretch of the video. Thumb-sucking, pacifier use, and similar oral habits can all influence how the jaw develops, and when the upper palate ends up too narrow, a palatal expander may be recommended early. Timing matters here: the growth plate in the roof of the mouth typically fuses around age 14–16.
The American Association of Orthodontists recommends a first check-up by age 7. That visit gives Dr. Najjar a baseline for how your child's jaw and bite are developing, and shows whether stepping in early would help. Our early orthodontics page explains what to expect at NuLine Orthodontics.
Looking for the full guide to Early Orthodontics?
The questions patients ask most get answered there, along with what to expect, a step-by-step walk through the procedure, and the details on recovery and cost.
Read the Early Orthodontics guideFour Convenient Locations
NuLine Orthodontics has four offices across Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Any of them can get you started.