17 Month Old..... Stains on His Teeth?! Anyone Else?!

Are you letting him fall asleep w/his milk? I know this can cause many problems with teeth. The milk may be setting in his mouth and that will cause discoloration/stains.

My son had the same problem when he was younger. I took him to the dentist and she told me to get an Oral-B electric toothbrush and that took care of it.

L.,

I work in the dental field and hear about this situation frequently. You are not alone worrying about your childs tooth discoloration. Especially boys- being a little rougher than girls, though it happens to girls too!

I am not sure if your sons teeth grew in that way, if it happpened gradually, or if it happened all at once. Also,are the affected teeth all of his teeth- tops and bottoms, only tops or only bottoms.

So my answer is depending on that factor. If it happened either gradually or all at once, it is likely from a fall or something that caused the tooth/teeth to bleed internally from the root area. So then inside the teeth there is dried blood, which shows the discoloration that you see. Think of it like a bruise and the tooth bing a pouch that retains the drying blood. The blood lies under layers of skin, and as time goes by, it dries up, darkens, then shrinks and lightens and eventually disappears. So hopefully you will notice shrinkage and it eventually disappearing soon. If it doesn't completely go away, there are always the permanent teeth that will grow in once the baby teeth fall out, and the adult teeth aren't at all affected by the bruising of the baby teeth.

I hope that this calms you some, if in fact it is the common problem that I hear a lot of from patients.

Thanks and God Bless,

A.

My 2yr. has the same problem. The dentist says it is not from the lack of brushing or sleeping with a bottle or a pacifier but rather when they were really young, like before the teeth came in if they were one an antibiotic it tends to stain the teeth.
She said the permant teeth are usually not stained or a problem. But if you are really concerned I would take your son to the dentist just to get it checked out

Has your son experinced ear infection? Some of the medications have been known to stain teeth. Check with your his physician.

My daughter had the same thing about the same age. We took her to a pediatric dentist and the dentist polished the stain right off. Our dentist said to use a battery powered rotator toothbrush (sorry I can't think of what they are called, hope you know what I mean) instead of a plain toothbrush. The dentist said it is more like the polisher she uses and will keep that stain off better. You can try the spinny toothbrush for a while and see if that helps, if not don't be afraid to take him to the dentist. I am so glad I took my daughter, her teeth looked 100% better after I did. Good luck!!!

I would suggest taking your son to a pediatric dentist. Its never too early to start! Our son had discoloration also. We waited until he was 2 1/2 years ago, he's now 4. They feel it may be from pitting enamel. That is a complication of Celiac disease (I have it) so its likely that he will also be a carrier. Let the pediatric dentist give you an opinion. Another thought, our first pediatric dentist terrorized our son. His dentist now is AWESOME! That is the other key in success!

I'd take him to a Pediatric dentist. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, but you're already worrying so I'd go find out from a professional.

You didn't say what color the discoloration is, but with our daughter, it was from before she was born and had to do with calcium. It wasn't something I did or didn't do, but happened because of her birth. She had an apagar score of 1 at birth. She was born with a heart beat, but nothing else. She wasn't breathing, was unconcious, etc. Took a few minutes, but she came around and is fine now (she turned 14 just before Christmas). Perhaps your son's discoloration is from something at or before birth too. What a blessing he must be to you! Congrats!!

My son is now 5 and had discoloration on his teeth starting at the gum line when he was under 2 years old. It started to spread down his teeth and we took him to a pediatric dentist. The dentist looked at his teeth and saw no cavities or wearing of the teeth. He thought it was just staining from the foods he ate (he ate broccoli almost everyday... it was his favorite). The dentist wasn't sure that the stains would go away until he lost the teeth. We just started paying attention to brushing at the gum line and the stains went away. Don't know if this helps. Hope it does!

IDK if its the same thing or not, but my cousin has dark yellow spots on her teeth that just look "dirty." It was caused by her having a lot of fevers as an infant and the subsequent use of lots of antibiotics. There is some sort of connection that when you combine the two, they affect the teeth.

Our pediatrician told us to try baking soda and it worked very well. He still gets it sometimes despite brushing but when I use the baking soda again it helps to clear it up.

My nephew has spots on his teeth and so does my friend's daughter. I think its kind of common. My nephew was sent to a dentist to have it checked out around his first birthday (his almost looked like cracks) and was told that he has tiny soft spots on his tooth that probably happened in the womb. They said its no big deal but they are going to check it every 6 months to make sure there aren't signs of decay. For my friends daughter, they didn't refer her to a dentist at all and they said its nothing to worry about. I'm sure its nothing you could have prevented and I would try not to worry about it if your doctor isn't concerned. You could definitely take him to a dentist to have them take a look if that would make you feel better - I've heard appointments are pretty quick and easy at that age. For my nephew, his mom held him and the dentist took a quick peek and it was over.

This is from the drugs that they gave you when you were having the baby, or should I say, trying NOT to have the baby. My son was 7 weeks premature and he has one tooth that came in the same way, stained and it wears down faster than the rest. He is late losing it, I am hoping the new one will be ok. It is nothing to worry about.

Teeth can become discolored as a result of exposure to certain "chemicals". These would be stains which would be incorporated into the tooth structure itself; otherwise known as intrinsic stains. Intrinsic stains cannot be cleaned or brushed away. Extrinsic stains, however, are only located as a deposit on the outer surface of the tooth and can be either brushed away or removed with a professional cleaning

Does he drink a lot of juice? My niece had soft tooth enamel and my sister didn't realize it. She drank quite a bit of juice and that caused discoloration and some rotting in her baby teeth. I too would suggest a pediatric dentist just to be sure.

My sister's boys all three had issues. The dentist said it was a 2 fold issue. One their teeth didn't have enough enamel and it was because of the floride in the Cincinnati Water. So she added a suppliment to their diet and made sure they got loads of calcium and when the prementent teeth came in they were just fine. I think I recall too that the dentist put something on them to protect the enamel. The teeth are fine now and they are all in college.