Most kids lose their first tooth around age 6 and their last somewhere around 11 or 12. That adds up to about six years of wiggly teeth, lunchroom losses and late tooth fairy runs, spread across 20 teeth. By the fourth or fifth tooth, it's easy to forget which one went when. This guide gives you a simple baby tooth log for kids, a naming system that won't confuse you later, and a few rules for keeping the tooth fairy's records straight.

What to write down (and what to skip)

In short: the date and which tooth. Everything else is a bonus.

A tooth log only works if you can fill it in on a busy school night. Keep each entry under a minute, or you'll likely stop by the sixth tooth.

• Must have: the full date, including the year, and which tooth came out. "March 12" means nothing six years from now.
• Nice to have: your child's age, where or how it happened (in an apple, at the pool, during bath time), what the tooth fairy left, and whether you kept the tooth.
• Skip unless you love detail: the day it first got loose. It's hard to pin down, and guessing at it slows you down.

One more column earns its place: the order number. Writing "#4" next to a tooth turns a map of the mouth into a timeline you can read at a glance.

How to name each tooth so the log makes sense later

In short: top or bottom, your child's left or right, and the type of tooth.

The most common mix-up is left and right. Always use your child's left and right, not yours. If you're facing your child, their right side is on your left. Dentists chart teeth the same way, so your log will match theirs. The log's header line already has this key, so nobody else in the house gets it backward.

Each side of each jaw has five baby teeth. From the middle out, here they are in plain words, with the dental name in parentheses:

1. Front tooth (central incisor): the middle tooth, one on each side of center.
2. Side front tooth (lateral incisor): right next to the front tooth.
3. Pointy tooth (canine, also called an eyetooth or cuspid): the one with a point.
4. First molar: the first wide, flat chewing tooth.
5. Back molar (second molar): the last baby tooth in that corner.

If you want your log to line up with dental records, dentists label baby teeth with letters A through T. A is the top back molar on your child's right. The letters run across the top to J, the top back molar on the left. Then they drop to the bottom: K is the bottom back molar on the left, and the letters run across to T on the bottom right. The template below includes the letters, so there's nothing to memorize.

The tooth-by-tooth log (copy or print this)

To print just the log, open your print preview and set the page range to start at the page with the "Child's name" line and end on the page where the second table finishes. You can also copy the log into a notebook or rebuild it in a phone note or spreadsheet. Each row is one tooth. When a tooth comes out, fill in its order number, the date and a short note.

The "Usually lost" column shows the typical age range from the American Dental Association's baby tooth chart. It's a rough guide, not a deadline. Kids vary, and being a bit early or late on some teeth is common. For most kids, the bottom front teeth go first.

One thing that won't go in the log: around age 6, new adult molars usually come in behind the baby teeth without anything falling out. Those are extra teeth, not replacements, so there's no row for them.

Child's name: ______ · L/R = your child's left and right · Tooth fairy rules: $__ per tooth, first tooth $__, last tooth $__

Top teeth

Bottom teeth

How a filled-in entry looks

Keep the Notes column short. Here's the format, plus a version your child can write once they're old enough to enjoy it:

"#4 · March 12, 2027 · Bottom left side front tooth (N) · Age 7 yrs 1 mo · Came out in a bagel at breakfast. Tooth fairy: $__ and a note. Tooth kept: yes."

"I lost my 4th tooth! It was on the bottom, next to the front. It came out in my bagel."

Kids who are losing teeth are usually learning to write, too. Giving your child a job is what makes a losing teeth tracker for kids work: they'll remind you to fill it in, and their early spelling becomes part of the keepsake.

Tooth fairy record keeping: write the rules down once

In short: agree on your house rules, fill them into the log's header line, then note what was left each time.

The tooth fairy's biggest problem isn't money. It's memory. Over six years and 20 teeth (40 with two kids), the rate drifts, a first-tooth bonus gets forgotten, or a younger sibling asks why their tooth got less. The header line on the log has blanks for the basics. If you want to settle the tricky cases too, copy this fuller version onto the back of the page:

"Tooth fairy rules at our house: $__ per tooth. First tooth: $__ and a note. Last tooth: $__ and a letter. Lost or swallowed tooth: leave a note for the tooth fairy, same amount."

Then add a few words to each Notes entry:

• What was left: the amount, plus anything extra, like a note or a sprinkle of "fairy dust."
• Late visits: if the fairy missed a night, write down the story you told ("busy night, lots of stops") so it stays the same if it happens again.
• Letters: if the tooth fairy writes notes, keep them in an envelope stapled to the log. They're part of the story, too.

The amount is entirely up to you. What matters is that it stays consistent between siblings and from the first tooth to the last.

Where to keep the log so it lasts six years

In short: somewhere you'll see it on a loose-tooth night, with a backup.

The best spot is the one you'll actually reach for at 9 p.m. with a tooth in your hand. Pick based on how your family works:

• Taped inside a closet or cabinet door: best for one home and one main tooth fairy. It's in plain sight on the night it matters and out of sight the rest of the time.
• In the back of the baby book or a memory binder: best if you want everything in one keepsake. The tradeoff is digging it out each time, so keep a pen with it.
• A shared phone note or spreadsheet: best for two homes, two parents splitting tooth fairy duty, or a grandparent who hosts a lot of sleepovers. Anyone can add the entry the night it happens.

Whichever you choose, snap a photo of the paper log after each new entry. It takes five seconds and protects six years of dates from a spilled drink or a lost binder. If baby books have never stuck in your house, our guide to baby memory book alternatives for parents who never write in it compares other low-effort ways to keep records like this.

If you keep the teeth, label them to match the log

Keeping baby teeth is optional. The log is the record either way. If you do keep them, a few habits make them easy to match up later:

• Rinse each tooth, let it dry fully, and store it in a small labeled container or envelope.
• Write the dentist letter and date on the label (for example, "N, 3/12/2027") so it matches the right row.
• Keep all the teeth together in one box with the log, not scattered across junk drawers.

One safety note: a baby tooth is a choking-size small part. Store kept teeth, and any envelope holding teeth or coins, out of reach of any child under 3. If a toddler shares the bedroom, use a sealed envelope taped high on the bedroom door instead of tucking the tooth under the pillow. Coins are a choking hazard too, so put the tooth fairy's coins in that same envelope, or leave a bill instead.

When to bring the log to the dentist

Kids lose teeth on their own schedule. Still, a dated log is exactly the kind of record a dentist can use, so bring it (or a photo of it) to checkups. Mention it to your child's dentist if:

• A tooth comes out from a fall or a bump instead of wiggling loose. Call the dentist soon rather than waiting for the next visit.
• Your child's timing seems far off from the typical ranges in the table.
• An adult tooth is coming in while the baby tooth is still firmly in place.

For pictures of when baby and adult teeth usually come in and fall out, the American Dental Association's MouthHealthy site has clear charts. For anything about your own child, your dentist is the right person to ask.

Catching up on teeth you already missed

In short: rebuild from photos, ask your child, and mark any guesses.

If your child has already lost a few teeth, you can still start today. Fill in what you know, and treat the rest as a short detective job.

1. Scroll your photos. Find the first picture showing each new gap. The photo's date gives you a "lost by" date, which is close enough. Our guide to catching up on a baby book months later walks through this photo-timestamp method in more detail.
2. Ask your child. They may remember the apple, the playground or the swim lesson even when you don't.
3. Search your texts. A message to a grandparent like "Guess who lost a tooth today!" is a dated record.
4. Mark guesses with a "~". Write "~Oct 2026" for an estimate, so you always know which dates are exact.

Keeping logs for more than one child? Give each child their own page and their own pen color, and store the pages together. Our post on memory keeping for more than one kid has more ideas for keeping siblings' records even when life gets busier.

Start tonight. Copy or print the log, fill in any teeth that are already gone, and put it somewhere you'll see it on the next loose-tooth night. Twenty rows, a minute each, and by the time the last back molar comes out, you'll have the whole story on one page.

Frequently asked questions