PLEASE HELP - Teeth discoloration in 18 month old (Picture included a few posts down)

[Jerlin]

I noticed that my 18- month old DS has discolored teeth. He has 4 upper teeth and 4 bottom teeth. The upper teeth looks like brownish stains and the bottom teeth are white near the tip and beige/gray/brownish near the gum line. It is like there is a distinct line of white and beige/gray/brownish. He is a late eater, started eating solids t about 15 months old ( which was 3 months ago). He is still mainly breastfed, and eats very few solids (on a good day about 2 ounces of food). We brush his teeth but just recently taking more care in brushing (no toothpaste). I looked on the Internet and it could be 1. Injury 2. Not enough enamel 3. Plaque buildup. All are a possibility. Does anyone else have this problem? TIA!

[mamadiamond]

i've noticed the same thing with my dd. she's not quite a year, but the same number of teeth and amount of solids. i just started getting serious about tooth care when i noticed the discoloration, but it's too early to know if it is helping. i had just been brushing with water, but i just started with baby toothpaste. and i've heard really good things about xylitol, so i'm planning to start adding some to her sippy cup. also started vitamin D drops to strengthen the teeth. hopefully all that will help. though i remember i had discolored baby teeth because of poor enamel when i was a kid and it didn't do any harm.

[carmen358]

DD has this on her top 4 teeth. I freaked out when I first noticed it! We took her to the dentist and she basically said that yes, it's decay. I thought it was just plaque but apparently for her it was already beyond that. I was (and still am) devastated. We never/rarely give sweets (some honey now), brush her teeth, no juice, etc. etc. It does seem to have slowed down which is good. My dentist wants to give us MI Paste but it's a lactose base and our DD has suspected allergies so we're holding off.

It wouldn't hurt to get it checked out. My dentist also said to me that if you can scrape it off with your fingernail then it's nothing to worry about.

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by mamadiamond 

i've heard really good things about xylitol, so i'm planning to start adding some to her sippy cup.

I've heard great things about xylitol too, we use it in our homemade toothpaste, but just wanted to mention in case you weren't aware -- xylitol can cause diarrhea... so I'd personally use it more as a toothpaste or rinse rather than putting it in her cup...

OP, I'm not sure what to say about the discoloration, do you have a dentist you can bring him to? The fact that the discoloration is near the gum line would concern me...

[hildare]

not from personal experience but this happened to a friend.  if it's brown in color and near the gumline, then it's decay.. and i'm not a go-to-doctors kind of person, but i think if that's what it is, the earlier you catch it, the better off you are.  it's actually considered a bacterial infection of sorts.

also, from what i read the white spots are a precursor to the decay and an indication to step up the tooth care routine (which happened to us, and we have, despite the screaming though she quickly got used to it). 

and honestly, you guys, we will never ever use a sippy cup, for that reason alone.  it makes whatever is in the cup hit those vulnerable front teeth, even if you don't do juice.. even if it's mama milk, it is a different pattern of drinking than is normal. that's just my conspiracy theory brain there, though.

[Jerlin]

Has anyone's toddler have teeth discolorings like this?

[SubliminalDarkness]

Originally Posted by hildare 

not from personal experience but this happened to a friend.  if it's brown in color and near the gumline, then it's decay.. and i'm not a go-to-doctors kind of person, but i think if that's what it is, the earlier you catch it, the better off you are.  it's actually considered a bacterial infection of sorts.

also, from what i read the white spots are a precursor to the decay and an indication to step up the tooth care routine (which happened to us, and we have, despite the screaming though she quickly got used to it). 

and honestly, you guys, we will never ever use a sippy cup, for that reason alone.  it makes whatever is in the cup hit those vulnerable front teeth, even if you don't do juice.. even if it's mama milk, it is a different pattern of drinking than is normal. that's just my conspiracy theory brain there, though.

Interesting.... We never used sippy cups, only straw cups. I'd never given the location of the liquid hitting the teeth any thought(though I did realize it applied with bottles vs. breast). But now I'm glad we always used straws!

[su.wei]

We just went through something similar with my 18 month old. At 12/13 months we figured out she had early childhood caries. hers was much more advanced than what your little one's looks like. (IF it is even the start of ECC). But to me it looks like the enamel is wearing away. We used flouride, MI paste, xylitol and brushed after she had anything to eat. We ended up getting the cavities filled last week while it was a 15 minute procedure. 

Go to a pediatric dentist. Only they can really tell you what's going on. :)

[sapphire_chan]

Have you had antibiotics at anytime since getting pregnant with him? If you have (or he has) then the very first thing to do is check for a yeast infection and treat it. Otherwise everything else you do  will be undone from within.

Then, regardless of whether there's a yeast infection weakening the enamel or not, try increasing nutrition, adding xylitol products to the diet, getting cell salts to increase the uptake of the increased nutrition, and using topical mineral treatments.

If it gets worse despite the above treatment, get ozone treatments while things are still small.

Go to the dental health forum for details about the above.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by Jerlin 

Has anyone's toddler have teeth discolorings like this?

Also, to anyone just glancing through this thread, look at your kid's teeth like this regularly and if they start looking like that, act immediately before any real problems develop.
 

[Jend1002]

This looks quite similar to what I noticed on my 2 1/2 year old and I was freaking out.  I took him to a pediatric dentist expecting the worst but they were able to scrape it off.  I could not do that with my finger nail, but it was staining that they easily removed. We are so good about not eating sweets and brushing, etc. so I was so surprised about the stains.  He certainly doesn't get coffee, tea, or anything like that!  But I was very relieved to see it come off so easily.  We also started using a toddler toothpaste with xylitol.  Sounds like a visit to a pediatric dentist would help confirm for you! 

[Aleida Gomez]

You need to read this book: "Cure Tooth Decay" and "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration ". For me what your son has is a initial decay. My son, 2 years old started like that. Now I know that is a nutrition problem. Check this link: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2011/05/how-i-healed-my-childs-cavity/

[marispel]

My DS had a discoloration but we quickly realized it was from the Vitamin D drops we were giving him.  We stopped and the discoloration went away.

[mandomom]

Is there fluoride in his water? I've heard that drinking tap water with fluoride can cause "flouridosis" of the teeth, espectially with young children who have a much smaller body size, and therefore reach a toxic limit much more quickly.

[2littlebirds]

I was going to say fluoride too, but after looking at the pics I would say that it looks like staining. From my experience, fluoride discoloration is more like brighter white areas on the teeth. I have this and never knew why, until I noticed it on my 20 month old's teeth. I did some research and I definitely think fluoride is the culprit in our case since it is in our water and I used to get fluoride treatments at the dentist when I was younger. Blah...wish my mom had done some research first!

Edited by 2littlebirds - 5/22/11 at 12:05pm

[hildare]

to me, that looks like staining too.  from what, it's hard to say.  i think some antibiotics can cause that too (can't they?  i don't know for sure) or the vit d or the flouride...