Teething of Incisors


The incisors are the first teeth to appear during the teething process. These appear in pairs and are then followed by the rest of the teeth. Usually one tooth appears each month/two months.

One pair of incisors appears in the bottom middle of the mouth followed by another pair in the upper middle of the mouth. These are joined by another two pairs of incisors.

What are incisors?

Good question. The incisors are what are known as 'cutting teeth'in that they enable us to cut and trim food as we eat. They also act as a support for the lips and enable us to speak as well. We have 8 incisors in total. For those of you who are particularly interested in human anatomy or like bits of trivia such as this, you will be pleased to know that we have four different kinds of incisors which are:

  • Maxillary central incisors
  • Maxillary lateral incisors
  • Mandibular central incisors
  • Mandibular lateral incisors

The maxillary central incisor is the largest of the incisors whereas the mandibular central incisor is the smallest.

What order do the incisors appear in?

What you really want to know is which incisor appears first? Your baby will develop their first pair of incisors at the front of their lower jaw which is then followed by the next pair at the front of their upper jaw. It might help to think of that song "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth". Their next pair appears in the upper jaw again but alongside the front teeth. These are then followed by another pair in the lower jaw which either side of the front teeth. Generally, the first pair of incisors appears at 6 months. The second pair appears at 8 months. The third pair appears at 10 months. Finally, the fourth pair appears at 1 year. This is a rough guide only.

There are more teeth to follow. The next set is the molars, and then the canines and then another set of molars (back molars). So as not to confuse you further we have produced separate articles about teething canines and molars. Find out more in our teething and canines and teething and molars articles.


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