AIBU to feel cheated about DD's teeth? (Pic included)

[Notplannedforthis]

DD9 has come home from school upset that another DC has been making remarks about her "rotten teeth".

DD has yellow/brown discoloration on her front teeth and I can't fathom why.

She doesn't like sweets or fruit, never drinks fruit juice or pop, didn't have a dummy, didn't have bottles, eats a mostly healthy diet, had fluoride treatments and regular dentist appointments up until the pandemic, we brush her teeth twice a day in quadrants using an electric tooth brush.

We've tried so hard to keep her teeth healthy. AIBU to be annoyed that despite this, DD is still having to put up with comments about her teeth? Why on earth are they brown?

@Notplannedforthis

Our dentist has only just started seeing patients again. We were due her annual check up last April so it's now been nearly 2 years since we were there!

We have an appointment on Monday, so I'm really hoping they can offer something.

I didn't have antibiotics in pregnancy. I did have codeine due to SPD.

I very much doubt it’ll be the codeine.

My child has dental issues also and I dream them going to secondary school and possibly being bullied.

I feel absolutely terrible about it, I’ve beaten myself up about it so so much but I think it’s something that’s ‘gone wrong’ while I was pregnant unfortunately.

My other child has perfect teeth

DS had this when he was around 12, looked exactly like your Dd's teeth. Dentist removed it easily by polishing it off.

I've heard that, ironically, too much fluoride can have this effect. Just an idea. In any case, there are cosmetic treatments available.

My top two front teeth were quite discoloured when I was a child. I had similar comments from bullies asking why I never brushed my teeth or that I smoked.

I didn’t do anything to them but they’ve evened out. Still got some more obvious white bits on them but not very noticeable.

My son's (he 13) teeth looked the same. I bought some of this and we all use this toothpaste now. It has made a difference :-)

Another dentist saying surface staining, it will come off.

Its not fluorosis or hypomineralisation.
Amoxicillin doesn't cause staining, and will cause no harm to your child's teeth. Tetracycline causes staining.

She just needs better brushing technique, certain foods can stain the teeth. Once its there you won't be able to brush it off, really wouldn't worry too much about it. Once things go back to normal she can have regular polishes with the dentist to get rid of it.

Please do not try to remove it yourself. Do not use charcoal toothpaste or smokers toothpastes or any whitening toothpaste, they are abrasive and will damage her teeth.

It does look like staining. Have you ever taken her to dental hygienist? If not, I highly recommend it. They can polish that off quite easily. If not, the dentist can prescribe zoom or other reputable tooth whitening treatments. I did that for one of my DCs that had orthodontic braces that stained his teeth. They had brown on them once the braces came off.

My DDs teeth are like this and have been since they came through - she has coeliac disease and although I'm not sure if the link is proven there is a definite correlation between yellow teeth and CD.

@StCharlotte

My niece's teeth were very discoloured because she spent most of her early years on antibiotics - could that be a factor?

This is my problem. I had quite chronic tonsillitis

My daughter has this too, she has sn’s and finds brushing really tricky, I have been accused by the dentist of feeding her sweets and fizzy drinks when in fact she doesn’t really have a sweet tooth and only has fizzy drinks if we eat out (very rarely). My daughter has hypermobility and I have wondered if there is a link but not sure. We have high fluoride toothpaste from the dentist which helped a little.

I had/have similar discoloration on my front two upper teeth. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about mine, its the actual makeup of the tooth, not just a stain on the surface. It bothered me as a child but not as an adult.

Ds has something similar and my dentist said it was too much fluoride when he was little. Feel really bad - thought I was doing the right thing

My sons are similar to this - he has enamel hypoplasia due to antibiotics when he was younger/or me being unwell when pregnant and his enamel was forming! Like your dd, he’s never drunk juice or pop - feel so heartbroken for him 😢

My sons have a bit more of a chalky appearance mind. Hope you get some advice from the dentist - ours won’t see my son unless it’s an emergency x

Mine were like this when my adult teeth first grew and stated that way until around 15.
My enamel was patchy and looked yellow... it was due to hormones from going through puberty. Apparently your salvia is more acidic during this time.
After I’d fully developed and gone through puberty my enamel evened out and I have exceptionally nice teeth now (honestly, it’s the biggest compliment I get and I get told how nice my teeth are regularly).

My DD10 is the same but she has been in the throes of puberty for over a year and is very developed for her age so I imagine hers will settle in a few years like mine did.

Yes looks likes surface staining , my dd (and I) have had some , a small toothbrush with toothpaste containing baking soda and scrubbing just directly on the teeth always brings it off for us despite normal brushing and toothpaste not working or just a polish at the dentist if not.

Here’s some pictures of my teeth now... honestly they used to be just like your DD’s.
Never whitened them either

Others are right. Too much flouride while young can cause brown spots on and discolouration of teeth, flourosis.

My children had fluorine drops as babies, because we were told it was advisable. However, we were living in an area of the world with naturally high levels in the water. One suffered more than the other, but as pp have said, we are told they have strong teeth.

My daughter had the same and she had train tracks- twin block braces and a lot of penicillin when young ( low dose for a year) the colour did eventually fade and barely noticeable now- her dentist told her to clean teeth at night and use whitening toothpaste but not to rinse it off

My 15 year old's teeth are like that. I have no idea what it is because my older son who had a similar issue was told by his dentist that it was the way his teeth were formed, however I knew they hadn't always been like that and I suspected it was staining from turmeric as he had been having chicken tikka in his wraps most days for packed lunch.

The dentist was insistent but I KNEW he was incorrect. I made him an appointment with the hygienist and she knew straight away it was staining and it came off easily and was very when I told her the dentist had said it wouldn't come off.

No-one has cleaned my 15 year old's teeth properly (at the dentis) in a long time, latterly because of COVID regs, and before that because he's had a different dentist every time we've visited and they hardly do any cleaning it seems, these days.

When I was young and at the NHS dentist for a checkup, I always got a bit of a scrape and polish as part of it. My kids just sit in the chair and get examined. I do think NHS dentistry is not what it was unfortunately.

I switched to private in the end due to a poor experience with an unnecessary filling (and subsequent root canal because of it)

As a dentist, that is just extrinsic stain. Can be polished off very easily by the dentist. Reason - quite often unknown, but mouth-breathing, iron supplements, inhaler can be a cause. Nothing to worry about