10 m.o. Grey Stains on Teeth

Tracy, I would just gently try to clean them with some children's tooth paste and either a soft washcloth or soft toothbrush. When I was small the doctor gave liquid iron to me and all of my teeth had to be extracted because it decayed my teeth. But, when my permanent teeth came in they were very pretty. You will see, when his baby teeth fall out, I'll bet his teeth are very pretty. God bless you! It is so good to hear someone care so much about their child and wanting to do what is right these days. I hope the rest of your life will be much happier. I pray God's blessings on you and your son.

I would definitely take him to a pediatric dentist to have it checked out. It may be nothing but I would definitely see what the dentist says. Recently, my son had to have $1800 worth of dental surgery so it's much better to have it checked early in case there is some type of damage. It will definitely save you money in the long run.

T.

Hi T.,

My daughter's teeth also got stained and I think it was due to the iron drops her dr. had prescribed for her because her blood count was a little low (I breast fed her and the dr. said sometimes it could be due to this) I started giving them to her when she was about 5 1/2 mos old and her teeth came out when she was a little past 9 mos old. My husband and I later noticed that her front teeth were stained and it was noticeable. I later read that this can be caused by the iron drops, so I stopped them (even though the dr. had told me to continue). I felt so guilty about her teeth turning grey due to the drops and that I had done that to her. Then later, I don't know how, but she no longer has her teeth stained and they look pearly white. I had forgotten about that until I came across your request. Somehow, the stains disappeared and I am so thankful for that. She's now 5 1/2 yrs old and she still has her baby teeth. I pray that the same thing happens to your child. Take care.

I'm going to ignore the racial comments and work past that to give this advice...First of all, these are teeth that will eventually fall out. When I was small, I had to have all of my baby teeth capped (not sure of the reason, but my mom told me about it). I now have pretty good teeth. If I took better care of them, I would probably have great teeth...LOL. I do know that steroids are known to cause problems with teeth, so it could be that and letting him fall asleep with a bottle is not such a good idea. You probably need to nip that in the bud.

Okay, I am so sorry to have to say this, but you sound so ignorant by saying that Hispanics have caps on their teeth and then you think you save face by saying uneducated or low income children have caps. If you are sitting in the bus depot with God...was he the one telling you how much money or education these people have?

Unless your son's teeth and gums are bothering hime I wouldn't worry about it. They will eventually fall out and be replaced by healthy teeth. In the mean time, try to cut out sugery drinks and maybe switch to low iron formula. (it actually smells better then that with iron)

Good Luck!

I do not know anything about the gray stains sorry. I would think the adult teeth will probably come in fine. I can tell you that formula in the mouth at night should not hurt the the teeth. It is cow's milk that will cause the cavities if left in the mouth coated on the teeth at night. The sugars in the cow's milk is terrible for the teeth and will rot them.

Okay, first of all, let me comment on the 'mouth full of fillings.' Unfortunatley, all doctors/dentists are not in the business to help people. Sometimes, a child will have a mouth full of fillings because their dentist pulls/fills/caps or whatever perfectly healthy teeth because the child is on Medicaid and they are sure to be reimbursed. Generally speaking, this does tend to happen to children of under-educated parents or to children whose parents do not speak English. I am not saying that all children on Medicaid have un- or under-educated parents. My kids are on Medicaid, and I would never say that about myself! LOL.
As for the spots on his teeth, my first thought was flouride (because you give him nursery water). Too much flouride is not a good thing, but it generally produces white spots. My next thought was the steroids. My oldest son was on a pretty long round of Prednisone for some gastro-intestinal issues. After a couple of weeks, I noticed that his teeth looked 'strange.' The color had changed to a funny light gray, barely noticeable, really. The doctor didn't see it, but I did (and who knows my baby better? I look at that face every day!) The discoloration went away after he finished up his Prednisone and there was time for all of the unfortunate side-effects of steroids to work themselves out of his body. I would venture to guess that it is the steroids with your baby(steroids are heavy duty!) because he is taking them through a nebulizer and they have the opportunity to actually come in contact with his teeth. I'll bet that it goes away after the steroids. Hope this helped a little and that your baby is feeling better and off those rotten steroids soon! By the way, even though this discoloration is probably not caused by it, you do know that laying him down with a bottle is never a good idea, don't you? While the dental caries it can cause, referred to as 'milk teeth,' don't affect the second teeth, they do make the first ones look terrible!

I'm a church-going, book-reading, music-loving, play-dough-making, finger-painting, flip-flop-wearing, homeschool mama of 3. sam (1/13/00), elijah (1/21/03), and ruby (6/17/05). and i want more!

My daughter is also constantly on antibiotics, has a permanent nebulizer with albuterol treatments daily till shes old enough for an inhaler and has a bad habit of going to bed with a sippy cup. Have you thought that mabey the way his teeth are could be caused by genetics? I have noticed that my daughter has unmistakable copy parts of me. Nearly identical. I don't know the situation between you and your ex but if you can talk to his parents about their childhood teeth and their kids teeth, discolouration, tendency to stain, perhaps they can shed some light, also talk to your own parents. Could be that you might have cousins that have the same problem.
I mention genetics because when I look in the mirrow then at my daughter, our teeth are almost identical. The same shape, same color, same gaps, the only difference is the chip I have on one of my front teeth. (bicycling accident :D) If your son's teeth are not bothering him, keep an eye but don't stress out about it. Kids are weird things. Keep your chin up, your child is going to be fine.

Flouride, iron, antibiotics, even certain foods can all cause stains in a variety of colors if they are consumed in excess. As long as you are brushing his teeth with a baby toothbrush and toothpaste his teeth should be fine. However, falling asleep with a bottle in his mouth no matter the contents is not a good idea. Even breastmilk can cause teeth to rot if babies fall asleep with it pooling in their mouth. Formula and cow's milk are no different. Falling asleep with a bottle can also make babies more prone to ear infections. If i were you I would stop letting him take a bottle to bed. A pacifier might help ease that transition. You may also want to take him to a pediatric dentist. Docters don't always know as much as they think they do about areas outside of the specialty and a dentist might be able to answer your questions more fully.

My friend had the same problem and she did research online and found that nursery water has flouride added to it and too much floride can cause this. You might try checking. I looked for her email to me with the link, but couldn't find it.
As far as fixing it, you might try calling a pediatrician dentist.

Good luck-
L.

Fluoride doesn't cause grey stains, it causes yellow and then brown pitting. The gray is either from bottle tooth decay where you have allowed him to sleep with the bottle (formula doesn't matter, it ALL has sugar!!!) and it pools around his teeth and causes decay or it is tetracycline stain. has he been on tetracycline? If so, that is probably what it is. If not, then they are decaying. I would not allow him to sleep with the bottle b/c if it hasn't caused problems yet, it will.

I would have him checked by another dentist! HTH!