Shark teeth is the playful name for when a new tooth arrives behind a baby tooth that has not fallen out yet.

In kid words

"You've got shark teeth right now, that means your new grown-up tooth is coming in right behind your old one, just like a real shark has rows and rows of teeth!" Most kids think this is the coolest word in the whole dictionary. It usually means your wiggly tooth is about to get the message that it's time to go.

The parent version

Shark teeth is the informal, kid-friendly name dental professionals and parents both use for a common eruption pattern: a permanent tooth, usually a lower front tooth, coming in behind a baby tooth that has not loosened or fallen out yet. For a while, a child ends up with two rows, one from each generation of teeth, which is exactly where the nickname comes from.

This is common rather than rare, and it usually resolves on its own. As the permanent tooth pushes in behind it, the tongue pressing against it from the inside typically helps loosen the baby tooth until it lets go, often within a matter of weeks. If a baby tooth is not budging after a while, that is worth a mention rather than something to wait out indefinitely, so ask your pediatric dentist.

Where you might hear it at our office

A routine cleaning and exam is where this pattern usually gets spotted and simply watched, part of the same growth check that covers everything else going on in a growing mouth. Most of the time it needs nothing more than that quiet check-in.

Kids with a case of shark teeth tend to feel right at home under the sixteen-foot whale shark hanging over our Naples office, even if the two only share a name. If another word from a visit is still a mystery, the rest of the dictionary is right here.

Related words

Words that often come up alongside shark teeth: eruption, exfoliation, incisor.