A young child typically has 20 “baby” or primary teeth in total.

Quick Scoop: How Many Teeth Does a Child Have?

  • A full set of baby (primary) teeth = 20 teeth.
  • That’s 10 teeth on the top and 10 on the bottom.
  • These usually finish coming in by about age 2–3.
  • Later, as they grow, these are replaced by up to 32 permanent (adult) teeth.

Age-by-age snapshot (approximate)

  • Around 6–12 months: First baby teeth begin to appear.
  • Around 1–2 years: Many front teeth and first molars are in, totalling roughly 8–16 teeth.
  • Around 2–3 years: Most children now have the full 20 baby teeth.
  • Around 6–13 years: Baby teeth slowly fall out and are replaced by permanent teeth.

Simple example

If you look in the mouth of a typical 3‑year‑old who doesn’t have unusual delays, you’d expect to count 20 small baby teeth: incisors, canines, and molars on both top and bottom.

TL;DR: A child with a complete set of baby teeth has 20 teeth in total.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.