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Antibiotic caused Ds's teeth to go yellow?!

13 replies

skydancer1 · 28/01/2010 00:07

My 3 year old Ds had an ear infection and was prescribed Augmentin Oral suspension - a form of Amoxicillin to take for one week. I gave him the full course. A few days after he'd finished the course I noticed that his teeth had brown, yellow and white discolouration/stains. I think the drug must have caused it as I cant see any other cause and they all looked stained suddenly . He has always had beautiful pearly white teeth until now and I have done my best to regularly brush them twice daily. So I am quite dismayed! The thing is I have never heard of this reaction before and it is not on the list of possible adverse reactions on the medicine info. Can anyone enlighten me please or tell of similar experiences? Will it effect his adult teeth later too? Is it possible to get the teeth back to how they were? Thanks.

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jasper · 28/01/2010 00:09

I am a dentist. I don't know what caused this but it was NOT
the antibiotics

Take him to the dentist. it may well just be surface stains that can be polished off.
Good luck

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skydancer1 · 28/01/2010 00:31

Thanks jasper. Ds was also taking ibuprofen supsension for three days of that ear infection and that stuff is rather a lurid orange colour so maybe it was that - or something else - then. I will take him to the dentist and hopefully the teeth will polish up and nothing serious then!

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GothDetective · 28/01/2010 00:44

DD's best friend has yellowish mottled front teeth and took a lot of oral antibiotics for UTIs as a toddler. Her mum says she was told the mottling was caused by the antibiotics. Not sure who told her.

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Bucharest · 28/01/2010 08:34

Is there no way antibiotics cause tooth damage? I have 2 front crowns and my dentist reckoned the enamel wore away (it literally peeled off in strips over the course of a couple of years) because I had been on antibiotics for almost 2 years non-stop while waiting for an operation.

My other teeth are in fine fettle, it was just the front 2.

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rabbitstew · 28/01/2010 10:36

I can answer this one! This happened to my ds1 after several months of taking, amongst others, amoxicillin, for recurrent UTIs. The dentist told us that it was simply caused by the antibiotic upsetting the normal bacterial flora in his mouth, allowing the tooth-staining variety to predominate. All he needed was a quick polish and the staining completely disappeared, and his adult teeth are now also coming through a beautiful, uniform colour. So in other words, nothing to worry about (although probably a bit unusual it happened after only one week!). I think it is mainly (or only???) the tetracycline antibiotics that are known to affect the appearance of (subsequent adult) teeth in children, which is why they don't get prescribed for young children in the first place. Amoxicillin has been used for donkeys years on children apparently quite safely.

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skydancer1 · 28/01/2010 16:07

Quick reply - thanks all and rabbitstew - so good to read your post as reassures me! have just made an appointment with a dentist today. Difficult as a live in Spain and didn't even have a dentist here.

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jasper · 29/01/2010 00:15

The only antibiotic that causes staining/mottling of the actual tooth (ie not just the surface) is tetracycline.

If taken systemically when the teeth are forming , either by the child or in late pregnancy it can cause mild to severe irreversible staining of the whole tooth.

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Eggshells123 · 05/04/2014 01:35

My daughters (1&3) just finished a course of amoxilyn. Both had beautiful white teeth, which have turned yellow. I am freaking out!!!

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jimjam14 · 30/04/2015 11:40

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A2208 · 04/11/2018 21:22

I was prescribed amoxicillin in my first year of life for constant tonsillitis; which caused the enamel on my teeth to weaken and yellow chalky patches to appear, I am now sixteen years old and my teeth are all very weak and I still have yellow patches on my teeth that were passed on from my baby teeth to my adult teeth that look as if I haven’t brushed my teeth.

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Sanni223 · 15/07/2022 23:04

Hi sky dancer ! I know this post was from a long time ago, but this exact thing is happening to me! My 3 year old has always had pearly white teeth, last week ( as we were reaching the end of the amoxicillin regime) I noticed her teeth have turned brown at the top. I am freaking out!! What ended up happening to y’all?? Thanks so much!!