My wife made this observation. Newborns cut their first teeth finding it rather painful or at least discomforting. As kids, though, my wife and I have no recollection of feeling the arrival of any subsequent teeth.
If anything, I might recall maybe just a little tenderness while chewing, but newborns aren’t chewing yet! Any WAGs why only babies feel their new teeth coming in?
“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
I think you and your wife must be very lucky not to remember that. I remember cutting my wisdom teeth from age 13 to 15, and it was painful. Sometimes I even would have the urge to chew on aluminum foil to ease the discomfort. (Weird, I know) The worst thing was that my dentist wouldn’t believe me. He kept telling me that I wasn’t flossing properly on my back teeth. Boy did I fool him! He couldn’t believe it when they finally started breaking through.
Anyway, my oldest has had at least some discomfort with every one of her teeth. She’s working on her 6 year molars right now. Since she is older and able to comprehend what is causing the discomfort it makes her better able to deal with it without going around whining and crying and things that infants do when they are uncomfortable and want relief.
Come to think of it, I don’t remember pain from that as a kid, either. However, my wisdoms s-l-o-w-l-y began to come in when I was 21. The third (and last that I had) began coming in last spring (all three have since been pulled). When those came in, they each hurt like a sonofabitch. I know it doesn’t answer the question, but I knew you’d enjoy my little tooth story
I recall my wisdom teeth hurting like a bitch when they first grew in, but my incisors and canines (and even my first molars) didn’t hurt at all. When I run my tongue over my teeth, I notice that my incisors and canines are sharp, while my last molars are very blunt. Obviously it takes a lot more effort, and probably more pain, for a large blunt object to push its way up through skin than it does for a smaller, sharper object to do the same.
This is just a WAG, but it’s the best I can come up with.
I’m tired and probably didn’t pay the best of attention to the replies, but the teeth that you had previously would leave nice, tender holes in your gums that the new ones could just ::POP:: up through, whereas little babies teeth have to smush and punch through toughened gums.
–Tim
We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.
Wisdom teeth are a different issue. Wisdom teeth come in horizontally and have to make a tight turn to fit in vertically. Usually, during the course of making this turn, the wisdom teeth push upon the roots of neighboring teeth. As for pain, it’s true, both my wife and myself have escaped the pain of wisdom teeth. They all came in just right for both of us, althoug my dentist was watching mine closely with some concern.
That may be, but “adult” teeth are larger, and some shifting of the teeth also occurs to accomodate the adult teeth. Yet, as many concur, this seems to take place unnoticed.
“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
