Development and eruption of deciduous dentition

Around the 6^th week of intrauterine development, the epithelial thickening transforms into a crescent-shaped strip of epithelium, the dental lamina, which is then gradually divided into a number of ten separate islets, dental buds, the foundations of future deciduous teeth. Deciduous teeth are erupt from 6 to 30 months of age and the eruption is accompanied by a sharp increase in differentiated enzymatic activity. Deciduous tooth takes place through the mucosa during an eight-day window that includes four days before tooth eruption, the day of the eruption and three subsequent days. Systemic symptoms ascribed to deciduous teeth eruption include irritability, sleep disturbances, crying, rhinorrhea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, excessive salivation, increased need for biting and a slight increase in temperature (by 0.6 °C), especially on the day of the eruption, but not actual fever. Deciduous teeth rarely appear in the mouth at birth or may erupt during the first month of life. They are called natal and neonatal teeth and can be mistaken for small, white or off-white lesions on the newborn's alveolar mucosa, which are usually multiple but non-enlarging, Epstein's pearls, Bohn's nodules, and gingival cysts.

Keywords: deciduous dentition, tooth eruption, natal and neonatal teeth.