Born with bad teeth?

[LouLouLouL]

I brush my children’s teeth twice a day with an electric toothbrush, have done since their teeth appeared.

They eat fruit 2-3 times a day but only drink water and sweets are actually a treat, maybe a teaspoon of sugar every couple of days or less.

Two of my children have lovely teeth and gums but one of them, I worry about.

They seem to have an ever so slightly knobbly surface to their teeth. Plaque seems to build up on their teeth really quickly and often their gums bleed when brushing. Their teeth seem a bit yellow in parts.

It makes me think of one of my own siblings who has manky teeth, the cause of which has always been put down to poor oral hygiene but even as a tot they had cavities. I don’t have amazing hygiene and my teeth are better than most.

Does anyone have any experience with similar or knowledge about conditions or causes for unavoidably bad teeth?

I’ve heard that having a naturally low resting ph will cause cavities. I’ve heard you can get something painted on to protect the teeth also

Yes I had a boyfriend once who had genetically weak teeth. I think he said there was a problem with the enamel and even his baby teeth came in with cavities. He had hydrocephalus as a baby and he said the teeth were related to that so genetic I guess.

I'm no dentist but quick google showed there are all sorts of genes that can make teeth more prone to plaque, have grooves or be overlapping. I'm sure it isn't your imagination - I would be asking the dentist ASAP as there may be treatments they can do like painting on enamel or precautionary sealants/fillings if there are deep fissures in the teeth.

Both my brother and I had a thing called fissure sealing on our teeth back in the 80s. Not sure if it's still a thing that dentists do now though!

My brother had all his baby ones removed when he was about 6..... 30yrs ago... They said it was poor hygiene but the 3 of us done ours at same time morning and night. My nephew coincidentally had all his baby teeth removed too, I do believe there is genetics at play.

Premature babies can have bad teeth. I think it's due to all the oral antibiotics and the supplements they're given as babies.

The antibiotic tetracycline if taken during pregnancy or breast-feeding can cause a child to have discolored baby teeth. This happened to me its also meant a few crumbling teeth.

@ethelredonagoodday fissure sealants are definitely still a thing :)

Yes, one of mine has this (hypoplastination?) - the enamel didn't grow properly on his teeth, probably due to some virus he had when very little or possibly even one I had when pregnant. He's had the sealant on his teeth and sadly one filling at the age of about eight (probably more to come when dentists start doing check-ups again). I have always been scrupulous with tooth brushing and controlled sugar intake. I felt terrible when he needed the filling but the dentist was very kind and said it was nothing we'd done wrong, just bad luck.

Premature babies can have bad teeth. I think it's due to all the oral antibiotics and the supplements they're given as babies.

That's interesting as my brother was prem

I'm in Ireland, Primary school children get fissure sealants. I think it makes a big difference.

You can have hypoplasia or hypomineralisation which is a condition that causes malformed or weak enamel. You dentist would have mentioned this if it were the case

However there is no genetic condition that causes gums to bleed. If the gums are bleeding there is plaque. The majority of people don't have genetically weak teeth, they just have poor oral hygiene

Tetracycline causes really dark, characteristic staining however tetracyclines have not been used in pregnant women for a number of years due to this. You know if the teeth are stained by tetracycline, again this is something the dentist would have mentioned

There are obviously anatomical variations in teeth that can make someone more prone such as severe crowding, however rarely would it be so severe it makes decay inevitable.

Certain antibiotics can cause this but I think it only affects the milk teeth - not sure though

Every child should be getting regular fluoride varnish

Fissure sealants are a funny one, as there is a school of thought that they can be detrimental as they can hide decay in the fissures, instead of a small filling you can end up with a lot of decay. Not all dentists will fissure seal, I personally take it on a case by case basis

@mswales

Certain antibiotics can cause this but I think it only affects the milk teeth - not sure though

That's what we were told - that it was just the milk teeth that would be affected. That does seem to be the case with my daughters teeth.

One of her milk teeth just crumbled apart after it came out and she had to have one removed. Her new teeth are all perfect.

My middle child was born with no enamel at all on her four back teeth. The rest of her teeth are beautiful but these back ones (top two and bottom two) were like chewed bits of yellow chewing gum. No brown bits but definitely decaying quickly and weak as hell. Two were removed and the other two have a seal over them to help them stay in longer before they need pulled too. It's a shame for her because she is very good at cleaning her teeth.

I was told my DD had hypomineralisation when she was around 2 years old and her primary teeth at back crumbled out more then fell out. She never had sweets or fruit juice and used to choose to throw party bag sweets away as she knew her teeth were weak.

Her secondary teeth have luckily come through much stronger, but they aren't as white as her younger brother's primary teeth and it is a battle to get him to brush his teeth.

Yes, bad teeth can be genetic. My dentist has confirmed this. Some people have shit teeth and I am one of them. I have always looked after my teeth but no matter what I do they break, crumble and without fail at every check up I always need something filling.
I see it in family photos, I have inherited my dad's tiny, weak, baby like teeth. And one of my DDs has the same little, week teeth.. They really do look like baby teeth. She also has missing adult teeth that never formed and front teeth that didn't decend and needed pulling down with a chain. My other two DD's have strong, thick enameled teeth like their dad. They have no fillings unlike their sister.

No ones adult teeth are as white as baby teeth @Enough4me dont worry. It doesnt mean theres anything wrong with the teeth.

I have shit teeth. I floss, teepee, clean regularly.

Still spend about £400 minimum a year at the dentist. The costs really piss me off.

I find most dental decay is genetic. I've never been fastidious and have never had a cavity. DP has always been very good with his teeth and has a fair few. My sisters the same, not a single cavity. Whole family have teeth like iron.

Genetics surely?

Maybe I shouldn't have said 'most' - lots of. I think (not a dentist).

Most dental decay is not genetic