The six-year molar is the first permanent tooth coming into a child’s mouth. It is the first permanent molar and it comes up next to the very back baby molar tooth. This permanent tooth is different from other permanent tooth because it does not replace any other baby tooth. It just comes up behind the last baby tooth when the child is about six years of age.
The reason why I am writing this article is to make the parents beware of this tooth. Very commonly, parents does not know that this permanent tooth appears when the child is six years old. They would incorrectly think that this tooth could be just one of the baby tooth and it would eventually be replaced by permanent tooth later when the child is much older. So I have seen some child may have big cavity on the six-year molars and parents might become surprise that the tooth is actually a permanent tooth.
I would recommend that the parents would take their children to have their first routine checkup when the very first baby tooth erupts. Also, periodic checkup and cleaning would help ensure optimal dental health and also provide a chance for the dentist to provide useful dental information to the parents. And one of these useful information is about the six-year molar. It is my hope that the children would start off with good dental hygiene so to help them to continue do so as they grow up into adulthood.
Written by Daniel Tee, DDS, MS
Practicing Family Dentist Serving the city of Tempe, Chandler, Phoenix, Gilbert, and Mesa in Arizona.
