A child's baby teeth are designed to fall out on their own. However, many parents, or even children themselves, want to speed up the process in order to avoid the discomfort of a loose tooth. This might not seem like a big deal since those teeth were going to fall out in a few days anyway, but removing a tooth before it's ready to fall out can come with some major and unpleasant consequences.  

Here are three reasons why you should never pull a baby tooth.

1. It Could Cause Damage to Underlying Teeth

Baby teeth allow your child to eat and talk before their adult teeth come in, but they also hold space for those permanent teeth and help guide them into their proper place. If you pull a baby tooth instead of letting it fall out naturally, it's possible for you to cause damage to the underlying structures that supported that tooth. After all, a significant level of force needs to be used to wrench it out. This could prevent the adult tooth from coming through properly.

2. It Could Cause an Infection

As you should remember from your own childhood, baby teeth don't just fall out randomly. In fact, you'll probably have spent hours wiggling loose ones with your tongue. The reason why they loosen like this is that the root that holds them down is slowly dissolving. The tooth only falls out when that process is pretty much complete. If you try the old string and door method, it's possible that the root could break off instead of detaching naturally. This will be painful, and the wound will be open to infection. Since children don't have fully developed immune systems, infections are serious business.

3. It's Scary and Painful

Children are usually remarkably blasé about the loss of baby teeth. For them, it represents growing up and getting that much closer to the thrills of adulthood, plus an extra dollar or two from the tooth fairy. One of the reasons that is the case is that baby teeth normally come out without any pain. That will not be the case when you choose to pull the tooth. This can be really unpleasant for a child and make them scared about other teeth coming out.

If it seems as if there are any problems with your child's baby tooth, you can always call a dentist in order to receive some expert advice. However, most of them will fall out easily on their own, so you should never try to force things.