Don’t panic if your child opens his mouth and you see a second row of teeth!! This happens when the lower baby teeth haven’t fallen out yet but the permanent teeth come out anyway. It not that uncommon for this to happen, it actually happened to my husband many, many years ago!!
Typically, erupting permanent teeth (one or several) push against the roots of a baby teeth and displace them, eventually forcing them to become loose and fall out. However, sometimes things don’t go as planned and the baby teeth don’t want to leave so the adult teeth continue to push up through the gums and try to assume their place behind the baby teeth.
Most of he time, an ectopic eruption will resolve on its own. The baby teeth will eventually fall out and the tongue will push the permanent teeth into proper position.
Dr. Rojas encourages children with loose teeth that are not causing discomfort to have the satisfaction of wiggling them out on their own. If the baby teeth are held in solidly, or causing discomfort or it has been longer than a couple of weeks without change, I recommend helping those teeth come out.