4 Ways To Remove A Child's Loose Tooth by Social Dental Network

Do You Remember Pulling Your First Loose Tooth?

Losing your first baby tooth is one of many childhood experiences that was both terrifying, then relieving.

Whether your parents chose the old-school handkerchief grip & rip extraction, or one of the more popular tooth removal methods you’ve surely seen on social media, losing your baby teeth was always a memorable experience.

And one that kids sometimes dread.

Once the anticipation of dread over how it’s going to feel and if there’ll be blood turned to the realization that it really wasn’t that bad, the next thought was probably how much money you’re going to rake in from the Tooth Fairy.

Baby teeth usually begin to loosen and fall out generally around age five or six.

With the hope of saving parents and kids from having to deal with all despair over yanking out that loose tooth, we’ve decided to poll our member dentists and compile a list of easy & painless loose tooth removal methods.

4 Easy Painless Ways To Remove Your Child’s Loose Tooth

1. Use A Damp Wash Cloth or Piece of Gauze

This one harkens back to that old-school handkerchief method, you know the one where your Dad would wet his hanky that always resided in his pocket but hardly ever saw the laundry basket?



He’d take that thing out, wet it with his saliva, then reach into your mouth – despite your desperate pleading, more so over the grossness factor than the anticipation of pain – and deftly remove your loose tooth.

Just like you probably don’t wash your kids’ mouths with the dirty sponge anymore, there’s a better way than using Dad’s hanky to remove your child’s loose tooth.

Instead try a cool, damp washcloth or even a piece of gauze if you have it. The damp cloth – or gauze – will help you get a grip on the loose tooth, then just grip the tooth, turn it a tad, and pull it out quickly.

The coolness of the cloth will help relieve any pain and discomfort, and having the gauze on hand can help stop any potential bleeding that may occur once the tooth is removed.



2. Wiggle That Sucker

Remember that feeling of a loose tooth?

It was kind of a soreness that you’d feel when you moved the loose tooth back & forth with your tongue. And as a kid, it seemed like you just couldn’t stop doing it.

Turns out that loose tooth wiggling is helpful.

You can encourage your child to wiggle their loose tooth back and forth with their tongue or a clean finger.

As long as the back & forth wiggling of the loose tooth in question doesn’t result in pain or discomfort, it’s completely fine to have your child continue the pushing & prodding until that loose tooth finally falls out of their mouth.

3. Use Dental Floss

Yes, floss is used to clean between your child’s teeth, but it can also be used to remove their loose teeth.

Using a piece of dental floss is one of the most tried and true methods of removing loose baby teeth when the wiggle method just isn’t cutting the mustard.

Take a piece of floss about 12-18 inches long and help your child work the floss between the loose tooth and the tooth next to it.

If the tooth is loose enough, you can also try to work the piece of dental floss underneath the loose tooth to pry it out of its socket.

No need to tie the floss to a doorknob, drone, energetic dog or golf club, the force of the floss is strong enough to do the job all by itself.



4. When All Else Fails, Visit Your Dentist

Did you ever have a loose tooth that was so stubborn it felt like it would never come out?

If your child’s loose tooth is not responding to the poking and wiggling, nor has the floss method been successful in jarring that stubborn sucker loose, you can either continue to wait or simply take your child to the dentist.

Your dentist can apply a mild anesthetic to make the procedure of removing your child’s loose tooth completely painless.

Chances are when you mention a trip to the dentist, that stubborn loose tooth will manage to work it’s way out of your child’s mouth sooner rather than later!

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