What Causes Delayed Tooth Eruption In An Infant?

Posted on Sat, 10 Oct 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 10 Oct 2015 Answered on

Fri, 30 Oct 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : I have a 17 month old baby and she only has 2 teeth. is that normal or should I be concerned?

Answered by Dr. Archana Verma (36 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
It may be due to normal variation or poor health

Detailed Answer:
Hi
Welcome to the HCM
I completely understand your concerns but don't worry. Primary teeth eruption shows wide variations in kids. But most of the kids get all their 20 primary teeth by the age of 3 years.

Sometimes delay can be due to premature birth, hypothyroidism, rickets, hypoparathyroisism. So, I would recommend you to go for the following laboratory work up if the teeth do not erupt (even after 4 months of first tooth eruption) to rule out any of these:

-TSH, FT4, FT3 to rule out thyroid dysfunction
-25(OH)D3, S. Calcium, S. Phosphorus, PTH to rule out any rickets, hypoparathyroidism

You may upload the reports for my reference. Also, ensure a regular healthy diet and fluids.

Hopefully this will help you.
Take care

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj