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/* Hero */
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@media (min-width: 880px) {
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.mtw-page .mtw-hero { padding: 80px 24px 120px; }
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For Novi Wildcats Families
The nine o’clock parent toolkit.
Honest, plain-English answers to the dental questions Novi families actually Google at bedtime — written by a Wolverine-trained dentist who lives here and is opening her practice down the road.
warm, candid, ideally outdoors
in Novi or with family. ]
“This page started because three Novi moms texted me the same question in one week. I figured if they were asking, others were too. Bookmark this — it’ll keep growing.”
Tap any question to expand. This isn’t medical advice for your specific situation — it’s the same plain-English answer I give friends. When in doubt, call your own dentist.
The honest answer: most things can wait until morning. A handful can’t. Here’s how to tell.
Call 911 or go to the ER right now if:
- The face or jaw is swelling rapidly, or swelling is closing an eye or making it hard to swallow or breathe
- There’s heavy bleeding that won’t slow with 15–20 minutes of firm pressure
- The injury involved a hard blow to the head and there’s confusion, vomiting, or loss of consciousness
Find an emergency dentist tonight if:
- A permanent tooth got knocked out. Time matters. Pick it up by the crown (the chewing part — not the root). If it’s dirty, rinse gently with milk or saliva for a few seconds. Best case: place it back in the socket and have the child bite gently on gauze. If that’s not possible: store it in milk, or in the child’s saliva (in a cup, or tucked in their cheek if they’re old enough to not swallow it). Get to a dentist within 30–60 minutes.
- A tooth has been pushed deep into the gum, or is hanging out of position
- There’s facial swelling with fever — that’s an infection
Probably fine until morning, but call first thing:
- A baby tooth got knocked out. Don’t replant baby teeth — it can damage the permanent tooth developing underneath. Save it for the tooth fairy.
- A chipped tooth with no pain
- A toothache that responds to ibuprofen and there’s no swelling
- A lost filling or crown with no pain
Every kid is on their own schedule. The ranges below are typical, but late or early by several months is usually normal. What matters is the pattern, not the exact date.
Coming in (eruption):
- 6–10 months: Lower front teeth (central incisors)
- 8–12 months: Upper front teeth
- 9–16 months: Lateral incisors (next to the front teeth)
- 13–19 months: First molars
- 16–22 months: Canines (“eye teeth”)
- 23–33 months: Second molars — the full set of 20 baby teeth, usually complete by age 3
Falling out (exfoliation):
- Age 6–7: Lower front teeth first, then upper front teeth
- Age 7–8: Lateral incisors
- Age 9–12: First molars and canines
- Age 10–12: Second molars — the last to go
When to ask a dentist:
- No teeth at all by 15–18 months
- A baby tooth is loose but stubbornly hanging on for months while the permanent tooth is already coming in behind it (“shark teeth” — usually resolves on its own, but worth a look)
- Significant left/right asymmetry — a tooth on one side but not the other for an extended period
- Permanent teeth not coming in by age 7 after baby teeth have fallen out
A knocked-out front tooth in 4th grade can mean implants and bridges for the next 70 years. A $25–200 mouthguard is the single best return-on-investment in pediatric dentistry. Here’s the real talk.
Sports that absolutely need one:
- Football, hockey, lacrosse, boxing, MMA, wrestling — usually required by the league
- Basketball, soccer, baseball/softball — not required, but a top-three cause of pediatric dental trauma. Get one.
- Skateboarding, mountain biking, gymnastics, rugby, field hockey — yes
The three options, ranked:
- Custom-fit from a dentist (best, $150–300): Made from an impression of your child’s mouth. Stays in place, doesn’t gag them, doesn’t slur their speech, actually gets worn. Most-worn = most-protective.
- Boil-and-bite (okay, $15–40): Heat in water, bite to shape. Decent if fitted carefully. Replace every season — kids’ mouths grow.
- Stock / one-size (worst, $5–15): Bulky, falls out, hard to talk through. Kids hate them and don’t wear them. Skip.
The mistakes I see:
- Buying one in August and never replacing it. Growing mouths outgrow guards fast — check fit every 6 months.
- Not wearing it during practice. Most injuries happen at practice, not games.
- Storing it in a backpack with no case. Bacteria, deformation, chewing dog. Use the case.
- Skipping it for “non-contact” sports. The injury isn’t always from a hit — it’s from a fall onto the floor or another player’s elbow.
The short answer: yes, more than people think. The long answer is more interesting.
Why baby teeth matter:
- They hold space. A baby tooth lost too early lets neighboring teeth drift into the empty spot — which means the permanent tooth underneath has nowhere to come up. That’s how a $200 filling avoids becoming a $5,000 orthodontic problem later.
- Infection can spread downward. The permanent tooth is developing right under the baby tooth. A deep cavity that reaches the nerve can damage the permanent tooth before it ever erupts.
- Chewing, speech, and confidence. Kids missing front teeth from decay (not the natural fairy-visit kind) often develop speech and self-image issues by elementary school.
When watch-and-wait can be reasonable:
- A very small cavity in a tooth that’s already loose and about to fall out in the next few months
- Some second molars near natural exfoliation in older kids
- This is a dentist call — not a parent call
What actually prevents cavities (the honest list):
- Brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. Smear-sized for kids under 3, pea-sized for 3+. Parents brush for kids until they can tie their own shoes — not before.
- Flossing once those back teeth touch. Cavities between teeth are invisible to brushing.
- Frequency over quantity. A juice box at lunch is one acid attack. Sipping the same juice over two hours is a continuous attack. Drink, don’t graze.
- Sealants on permanent molars. Plastic coating in the deep grooves of the chewing surface. Quick, painless, dramatically reduces cavities in 6–12 year molars.
- Water as the default drink. Especially between meals.
The official recommendation is two minutes, twice a day. Most kids brush for 20–40 seconds. The gap is the whole game.
What actually works:
- A two-minute song they pick. Ownership matters. Let them choose.
- An electric toothbrush with a built-in timer. The brush does the work; the timer does the negotiating. Worth every penny.
- Brush together. Kids copy parents far more than they listen to them. Side-by-side at the mirror beats supervision-from-the-doorway.
- Brush their teeth after they brush their teeth. Let them have their turn, then you do a quick pass. Until they can tie their own shoes (~age 7-8), they don’t have the motor skills to do it well alone.
My free brushing songs:
I write goofy original songs about dentistry as a side project — Molar Town Radio on YouTube. They’re free, ad-light, and weirdly catchy. The full playlist is at youtube.com/@dianamcquirter. Pop one on while they brush.
I’m Diana McQuirter. I trained as a dental surgeon at the University of Michigan, spent a decade chairside, and I’m building something called Molar Town — an AI-native general dentistry practice opening at 23890 Novi Road in Spring 2027.
This page is free, has no ads, and exists because I think Novi families deserve straight answers from somebody local, not search-engine sludge. The QR code on your kid’s folder is my way of introducing myself before the doors open.
10+ years chairside
Novi resident
Opening Spring 2027
Be on the list when Molar Town opens.
Founding patients get first pick on appointment times, early booking access, and special opening offers. No spam, no marketing-speak — a few honest emails as we get closer.
Diana McQuirter, DDS | Molar Town | Novi General Dentistry 