brown patches on new baby teeth!?

[veganf]

So my little 3.5 month old got his second tooth just shy of turning 3 months old. His first tooth has a light brown discoloration all along the top of the tooth. I noticed it 2 days ago. I've never seen or heard of this, and any internet searches I do just say to brush your baby's new teeth and that any brown spots are signs of tooth decay.
I just think it would be crazy to take an infant to the dentist. But could it really be decay??? Has anyone ever heard of another cause? Knowing most dentists they'd blame it on co-sleeping and breastmilk : and I DON'T want to have one of THOSE arguments!

[eepster]

Is it possible he's been exposed to floride?

[veganf]

I drink only bottled spring water and use fluoride-free toothpaste. I can't figured out how that would happen. I've used a little homeopathic teething gel on him, but that's it.

[roadfamily6now]

My son also had his first 2 front teeth come in with brown on them.
He had the chicken pox at age 4 months and then has severe allergies once we moved to Wet Washington Coast at age 5 months........
Our Ped said he has seen this before and said it is most likely due to a compromised immune system and the body works hard to fight the illness and stops working on the teeth.

He is 6 now and you can not see any more brown on his front teeth, so whatever it was is gone now.

[caned & able]

Did you take antibiotics during your pregnancy? Tetracycline is known to do this as is hard water with calcium fluoride.

[mollyeilis]

I'm long-winded today, sorry!


I hate to be the bearer of possibly bad news, but that's how two of my son's teeth started. The two that he just had extracted b/c they had gone completely brown, started disintegrating, and one had an infection far up in his gums.

For us, it just seems to be genetics. My husband's babyteeth crumbled, and so did my FIL's. I was just happy it was only TWO of them.

Then again, it might also have been trauma, as he slammed his mouth into a table when he was 6 months old. At the time we focused on the accident because it caused a brand new bottom tooth to come out, but then later when those two upper teeth came in brown, we did wonder if he had hit his upper mouth as well, and sort of killed those two teeth. No way to prove anything, it's all just theories...

Anyway, we waited a good long while to take him in, b/c we figured there was nothing to be done, ya know? We tried to keep his teeth sparkling clean. We finally took him to a holistic dentist when he was around 18 months, and later she referred us to a pediatric dentist. After having full appointments with two (but having conversations with many), we found someone who really didn't care WHY it was happening, and just fixed the problem, and fixed it in the lowest impact way possible. He had two cavities filled (he needed NO medicine for the fillings, amazingly), and the two teeth were pulled with ONLY lidocaine. Other dentists were talking about general anesthetic, but I don't do GA lightly, and he's so compliant (with anyone but me!) I just didn't think it was needed.


Anyway, there are those who otherwise don't like fluoride but who DO put it on topically, just a TINY amount. I'm seeing more and more that the ingested fluoride doesn't do anything, and I personally still have my jury out on the topical thing, but others that I trust DO believe it can help.

We waited b/c we didn't see that there was anything a dentist to do so early. And we wanted to see what they would do. When the holistic dentist said that they would likely disintegrate and to just brush thoroughly and not worry about the teeth getting smaller, we did. They did get smaller but at some point they stopped disintegrating and even grew (from the root, I assume), but then the last dentist did ONE xray and saw that there was signs of an infection...and that's when we had them pulled.


When you DO feel that it's time to go in, be sure to get referrals from women here. If you can't get a referral, my advice is to just not mention nursing at night. No good can come out of that conversation, I've found. : Well, unless you already know that they agree with you. This last guy never even asked, he just wanted to fix the problem. The other guy we saw wanted to blame it on sugar, before he had even looked in DS's mouth, and he was just going by the current state of DH and my bodies. :

Oh, and if/when you take him in, try to take your hubby/partner along. My husband works over the weekends, so he has some weekdays off, and it was VERY helpful to have him with us. In the first visits with the holistic dentist (she did three mini-visits rather than the one BIG first visit) we found that if I'm holding DS, he just wants to nuzzle my chest. But if he goes in ONLY with DH, he's a brave big boy and will do whatever the dentist asks. The first ped. dentist seemed to think I was a chicken for leaving the room before the examination, but the second guy was just happy that we had a plan, and a plan that WORKED.

OK, I have overwhelmed myself, I can't imagine what I've done to your brain.

[veganf]

Originally Posted by roadfamily6now

Our Ped said he has seen this before and said it is most likely due to a compromised immune system and the body works hard to fight the illness and stops working on the teeth.

He is 6 now and you can not see any more brown on his front teeth, so whatever it was is gone now.

Hmmm...he had croup and a little cold (probably due to the big brothers starting preschool), but otherwise hasn't had an obvious health problems.

[veganf]

Originally Posted by caned & able

Did you take antibiotics during your pregnancy? Tetracycline is known to do this as is hard water with calcium fluoride.

Nope. And I thought tetracycline turned teeth gray, not brown.
But I did take the generic Unisom/B6 combo for severe morning sickness, which I didn't do with my other two. Gosh I hope I didn't cause this!!

[veganf]

Originally Posted by mollyeilis

For us, it just seems to be genetics. My husband's babyteeth crumbled, and so did my FIL's. I was just happy it was only TWO of them.

Anyway, there are those who otherwise don't like fluoride but who DO put it on topically, just a TINY amount. I'm seeing more and more that the ingested fluoride doesn't do anything, and I personally still have my jury out on the topical thing, but others that I trust DO believe it can help.

Oh, and if/when you take him in, try to take your hubby/partner along. My husband works over the weekends, so he has some weekdays off, and it was VERY helpful to have him with us. In the first visits with the holistic dentist (she did three mini-visits rather than the one BIG first visit) we found that if I'm holding DS, he just wants to nuzzle my chest. But if he goes in ONLY with DH, he's a brave big boy and will do whatever the dentist asks. The first ped. dentist seemed to think I was a chicken for leaving the room before the examination, but the second guy was just happy that we had a plan, and a plan that WORKED.

My husband and I both have very few fillings, and we're in our 30's, so I doubt it's genetic.

I have no problem with topical fluoride; I don't think that little bit will hurt. But before they can spit our toothpaste competently, I prefer them to use the fluoride-free toothpaste.
I'm still using the fluoride free homeopathic apricot toothpaste I used while pregnant because anything else would make me throw up.

As for my husband going with us, he usually does since he doesn't usually work weekday mornings. However, this little guy is only 3.5 MONTHS old, so I would undoubtedly have to go with him, at least until he's 1!

Thanks for sharing your experiences and your ideas!! I hope it doesn't come to tooth extraction, but I'm not a wuss around medical stuff. I just would rather he didn't have to go through that!

- Krista

[mollyeilis]

Oh, I'm not even saying to go to a dentist NOW. Afterall, what would they do?

And I'm not even saying for you to not go *at all* to the appointment (though it was an appointment at the same time I had an acupuncture appointment that helped us realize how GREAT he did with DH alone), just that you might explore not being in there for the exam. That's what worked for us, DH being back there while I bite my nails in the waiting room.

I seem to not have communicated at all. My hubby's ADULT teeth are great. He hadn't been to the dentist since he was a late teenager (he's 34) and he had NO cavities whatsoever. But his BABY teeth, those had issues, as did his dad's. His dad's adult teeth were iffy (he grew up during the Depression so didn't have much nutrition) and he was in the military when they'd rather just yank 'em out than deal with more complicated problems, so he had full dentures before he was 50...but the adult teeth weren't a problem for DH. Just the babyteeth.


And with the topical fluoride, I'm not talking brushing, not at all. We still use fluoride free toothpaste, mainly the Baby Bees orange cream stuff (which they've discontinued, grr). But I'm talking just dabbing a tiny amount on the affected teeth, not even enough to have to spit at all, just purely topical application. Not that I've done it. But DH is the one in charge of DS's teeth now, and I have turned a blind eye if DH REALLY wants to do that (the dentist sent us home with some fluoride paste) every so often.

[veganf]

Originally Posted by mollyeilis

But I'm talking just dabbing a tiny amount on the affected teeth, not even enough to have to spit at all, just purely topical application.

That's something I'd consider. Much better than getting teeth yanked out. I'll also check around for a more "crunchy" dentist. Our's is pretty mainstream. I was about to make a first appointment for my oldest son who just turned 4, so I think I'll be able to tell from how that goes whether I'd want to bring the baby in.

[honeybee]

Ds1's top two teeth have ridges which are always a little brown, no matter how much we brush. I took him to our family dentist at age 2, just so the doc could have a quick peek. It was not a full checkup. But, the doc said it was congenital ridges, which probably formed in utero, and it was not decaying. His teeth didn't come out brown though, just got that way after he'd been on solids for awhile.

If you have a good dentist, you could just ask them to take a peek during one of your own cleanings, so they can tell you whether they think it's decay or not, or whether it should be looked into more. I didn't even have an appt. for ds, they just said bring him with me. My MIL came too, and ds watched me get my teeth cleaned, and then was fine with letting the dentist have a little peek at his teeth.

[veganf]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Ds1's top two teeth have ridges which are always a little brown, no matter how much we brush.

It is just on the ridges. But he certainly hasn't had any food yet (unless you count the teething gel and a few times those mylicon drops). I've never "brushed" a baby's teeth before starting solid foods. Besides, with the frequency he nurses, and night-nurses, it would be kind of ridiculous.

I wonder if prenatal nutrition (or lack of, ie. months of morning sickness and barely eating) could have had an effect??

[zjandosmom]

had to chime in here. My ds3 had 2 teeth come in exactly as you described. I had my ped look at them and he said not to worry. I said Ok.....mistake. When he was about 12m I could see they were wearing away. I finally got him to a dentist and it was decay. He ended up at 18m with 4 crowns and root canals. Not saying this will be the same for you, but I would have him looked at ASAP. I really feel that if I had had my son treated early on we could have avoided some of his 'work'. We don't know what caused his decay and I am not sure the dentist really believed me that they came in that way but they did. He did not 'blame' me for night nursing which I appreciated and I did not night wean. I do now brush my dd teeth just to be a bit more pro=active. HTH!

[veganf]

Originally Posted by zjandosmom

had to chime in here. My ds3 had 2 teeth come in exactly as you described. I had my ped look at them and he said not to worry. I said Ok.....mistake. When he was about 12m I could see they were wearing away. I finally got him to a dentist and it was decay. He ended up at 18m with 4 crowns and root canals. Not saying this will be the same for you, but I would have him looked at ASAP.

Yeah, I think I will. As soon as I can get an appointment for myself or my oldest son I'll bring the baby with me.
Thanks.

[veganf]

Update

I can't believe it, but I just made a 10 minute dentist appointment for a 3 month old!!: It's not for 3 weeks, but at least I'll know what's going on with his teeth.

[zjandosmom]

It will be good to know and hopefully it's nothing. I too felt silly making an appt. for my dd when she was 3m old! Thankfully her teeth seem to be perfectly normal! I just didn't want to take any chances after ds3! Keep us updated.

[Potty Diva]

This happened to Kailey as well. She had a brown spot on one of her front teeth. It was very small and stayd fr a few year. She is 3 months shy of being six and the spot is gone. No antibiotics, traumas, etc here. We don't do, and certainly didn't do sugar when she was an infant or toddler.

Good luck at your dentist appointment!