What is this cream discolouration on my daughters tooth?

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, my daughter has her front teeth just starting to come through. One of them has a white/cream patch on it. It looks slightly thicker than the rest of the tooth. I can't get rid of it through brushing.
I take good care of her teeth, although she still swallows the toothpast. She can't/ won't spit it out yet.
Does anyone know whatthismight be and what I can do about it?
Thanks.

There are a few things it could be.
Sometimes it's due to a fall when they had baby teeth and the baby tooth root touches the forming adult tooth. The fall pushes the baby tooth against the developing adult tooth and it leaves a mark in the surface.
Sometimes the marks can be due to a child being pretty unwell whilst they were forming. This leaves marks in particular teeth that were all forming at that time.
The mark could also be fluorosis, if your dd ate a lot of toothpaste or there are high levels in your water and she was also swallowing toothpaste.
Another less common cause can be genetic.
There is nothing you can do about it at the moment. Let the tooth come through and take her for a check up when she is next due and they will be able to tell you what the cause is likely to be.

Children can't really spit effectively until about 7 years so the recommendation of a pea sized blob of toothpaste is given to try to ensure they don't get too much fluoride. Fluride is really beneficial to teeth in small amounts. Too much and it can cause problems

I second what millyhas said. I would add a further, very common condition: enamel hypoplasia. That's not strictly a condition but the fancy name for the appearance you might be describing. It commonly affects central incisors and first molars which both start to calcify at around birth, and tend to erupt aged 6-7. The cause is often unknown, and no treatment necessary, apart from regular check ups and preventative care (fluoride toothpaste).

WRT fluorosis, by definition it does not affect just one single tooth. It will affect all teeth that were forming at the time of ingestion of the fluoride. A single spot on one tooth is very very unlikely to be fluorosis.

Thanks Bonzo, I've just reread the OP as I'd though it was the first adult tooth. Agree it's not likely to be fluorosis

Thank you both. that's really interesting. I'm trying to think wether she did knock her baby teeth at any point.
I'll mention it to the dentist next time. She's not due until november. Typical.