teeth have weak enamel - anyone any experience of this?

[gremlindolphin]

Just been to the dentist who say that my dd(7) has weak enamel on her teeth. Her bottom front teeth came through first and were a little discoloured but now her molars are through and are also damaged and discoloured. He says that the cleaning etc is fine and has advised going onto adult toothpaste and actually rubbing the toothpaste on the affected teeth at least twice a week.

He says if we can keep the teeth going until she is 12 that would be good.

He says that something must have disrupted the formation of the teeth when in the womb but I can't remember being ill or taking antibiotics or anything?

As she was with me I didn't want to get her any more worried about it than she obviously was already so we just concentrated on what to do now rather than the more long term questions.

Does anyone have any experience of this and what to do about it, longer term prognosis etc?

I am worrying about her and feeling quilty for whatever I did that has caused this!

My teeth came through without enamel on them when I was small as a result of huge quantities of antibiotics when young and I had loads of treatment at a dental hospital. Unfortunately I cant remember all the details but I did have loads of flouride treatments etc. I have a fair few fillings and a capped tooth but have not had problems as an adult. In fact I havent had treatment in 20 odd years. Maybe give the dentist a call when your dd is at school and have a quick chat with them.

One other possible cause is prematurity - someone at the paed dentist we found for dd1 (5) told me about this, her 2 yr old dd had all her teeth capped because of it.

My own dd1 has weak enamel, and close fitting teeth - which means the bits that don't get brushed between them gets decay. We now have to floss, though she hates it, and is so young

Genetics play a huge part, please don't give yourself a hard time!

this can be linked to celiac

dd2 has two molars with no enamel. We were told the same as your dentist, gremlin. However, dd2 did take a few courses of abs when she was around 6 months so maybe that caused it.

There is no reason why her adult molars won't grow in as normal - with enamel - and they're the ones that really count. Dd2 is now 10 and her enamel-less molars have done her fine. So it's been ok so far.

i have weak enamel as do my sisters ite genetic

just make sure you brush

and please dont beat yourself up

Thank you for your responses!

My dd (age 6) is missing patches of enamel on her milk teeth. The dentist said it was due to me having a temperature at the time the foetus was 'laying enamel' (his phrase, not mine).
I did indeed have a bout of mild flu with raised temp during my pregnancy.
He also said it should not affect her adult teeth. So far she has lost her two bottom milk teeth and the adult teeth which have come through look fine.

Both my DDs have weak enamel and it is awful. Even though they brush well and don't have much sugar, they are still prone to cavaties. I blame myself and find myself telling people they have weak enamel in case they assume I am a bad parent because my girls have fillings.

Silly really I know but I bet I'm not the only one.

Regular trips to the dentist, good dental hygiene, limited sugary treats (a weekend binge and a good brush is better than little and often) is what has been recommended to me.

I was told the milk and second teeth form up until birth and it may have been an illness on my part or traumatic birth that caused it. I am now coming to relalise just how common this is.

gecko has lost half of one of her teeth
the one next to her middle top ones

one of middle is te top front ones is now going the same way

dentist says she is too young to be seen

My 9yo ds has just had some teeth removed under a general as they had no or very poor enamel coverage. They had been covered with white filling to keep them going but the dentist felt that if they were removed now, some more would fill in the gap. (These were adult teeth, he never had milk teeth there at all).

It is worrying and you do blame yourself but at the end of the day teeth are very strange things. Try not to worry, maybe ask the dentist to see you alone next time to get a better understanding of what might come next.

Trinity, can you find another dentist? I know it is hard, but what I did was register with a private dentist, pay for 1 check up and now my children are on his books as NHS patients (check they are willing to do this first). The treatment they are getting is so much better than with our last (oversubscribed uncaring NHS) dentist.

rachmum
that is something I hadn't thought of, thanks will look into that
at the mo, we are waiting for a phonecall from my current dentist to see if she will agree to see her

My older three have weak enamel, all my side of the family seem to have it. We used adult toothpaste from 6 onwards on our dentist's recommendation and have to be scrupulous about brushing.

I work in a private practice as a dental nurse, & we see this SO often, especially in the last 5yrs or so, & often mainly in the first permanent molars, but often sometimes affecting other teeth too, & baby teeth. Its called enamel hypoplasia, & basically just means that the enamel is weaker & discoloured. Its NOTHING that you have done, & is down to when the teeth were forming, or about to form, in the mouth - no-one really knows what (possibly a virus, medications, etc). Its only a real problem if the diet is rich in sugar or acidic foods, so being aware of keeping those foods to mealtimes only & brushing teeth 2-3times a day will help. Smearing the affected teeth with t'paste can help as it contains fluoride. Otherwise good oral hygiene & a good diet will be fine.

I have 3 sons my second son's (7) baby molars came through without enamel. Unfortunately he has just had to have one removed. In general his dental hygiene has been good. My oldest son's (9) two adult front teeth have come through without enamel. Hereditary?

I'm a 40 yr old mother and I have had this condition all my life. I will explain my experience for you. I also have worked in the dental field for 10+ years.

Many times discoloration can be caused by antibiotics and medications, but this discoloration usually has a gray color to it. The yellow discoloration and patchiness on teeth many say is a genetic disorder when the enamel is not formed on the teeth, termed dental hypoplasia. Other family members that have it are my mom, 1 sister and my oldest son (so far). I have 2 boys and the both have/had beautiful white baby teeth. My oldest son's permanent teeth are now all in and he has the same discoloration I had growing up. When you look at the baby teeth closely you will notice they aren't shiny like typical teeth with enamel. You can dry someones teeth with a cloth with no enamel and someone with enamel and really tell the difference in the shine of the enamel or lack there of. It's when the permanent teeth come in that you start to really notice the yellowing and patchiness of various discolorations. We also have very sensitive teeth due to that protective covering (enamel) not being there. Eating cold foods, whitening our teeth, etc can be very painful. To protect our teeth we have tried dental sealants but could not bear the pain. Typically it doesn't hurt, but for us it's very painful. If I get a filling I can hurt for a day or two from the sensitivity.

How we've dealt with the problem
Until you stop growing you can't get cosmetic dentistry and this is usually about 18 years old. To help with sensitivity frequent fluoride application helps, which you can get a bottle of fluoride from your dentist and apply it at home with a toothbrush. You can also try Sensidyne Toothpaste. To help with the discoloration I have my son brush with a typical toothpaste in the morning, I prefer Colgate brand, best for cavity fighting in my experience. In the evening I have him brush with a whitening toothpaste, there are some great ones on the market now. I don't do whitening toothpaste more than once daily again because of sensitivity. To get some of the deeper stains off I starting using walnut powder in my 20's and it took a lot of the stains off. Not all, but a lot. Again typical whitening solutions were very painful for me. I found walnut powder at a herbal shop and I've had the same small jar for over 10 years. I'm sure you can find it online. I just wet my toothbrush, dip it in the walnut powder and brush, brush, rinse, add a little toothpaste to get the remaining brown powder off and you will notice a nice difference. If you're worried about walnut powder being abrasive, why?, you already don't have enamel and I have never noticed a visible defect from using it nor has my dentist. In my 30's I finally could afford cosmetic dentistry and now have a mouth full of crowns and veneers. It is very pricy but worth every penny. I love my smile! Painful yes and because of the sensitivity and the fact that my nerves never receded in my teeth like they typically do in adulthood I did end up with multiple root canals. The teeth without root canals can still be very sensitive, but not like they use to.

In my experience with this issue and as a Mother I advise trying the methods I have found to work for me and my son and try not to put your child through a lot of unnecessary dentistry until their adulthood. Again I've had a lot of dentistry done and it was painful and I don't think a child should or can be prepared for such. Also try to stick with one dentist and one hygienist. I also hated going to the dentist and a new hygienist saying, "What's wrong with her teeth?", so again I try to stick with one and always ask for them when I make my appointments for me and my children. It also helps to get your child's teeth cleaning every 4 months instead of 6 months to again get more of the staining off and don't forget to floss. Our teeth can be prone to decay because of the lack of enamel. I also prefer the Oral B electric toothbrush and have found that for my son this brush cleans his teeth much better than others and yes we have the others all price ranges and have gone back to Oral B.

I hope this can help some of you and chin up. Try some of these suggestions and remember cosmetic dentistry can give you that smile you always wanted you just have to wait a little longer for it. Best of luck!

I was born with it. Mine is hereditary and effects woman. At 13 I was told I would have dentures by age 20. I am now 30 most of my teeth have broken or were pulled no amount of brushing and flossing helped. My daughter has it now and we were told to use pro enamel. I feel terrible that she has what me, my mother, and grandmother have but the dentist said it can be helped now unlike when I was little. Hope this helps :-)

I know this was a long time ago but when i was younger some of my front teeth came through discoloured and i was told that i had weak teeth, by 7 i had around 13 fillings and 1 molar removed, im 13 now and ive had 3 teeth removed and somewhere close to 20 fillings. My adult back teeth just break away and if they get too bad to have another filling they can be removed. Ive been told to use a mouthwash twice a day prescribed which has fluoride in it to help strengthen my teeth. Im probably going to need braces and maybe one or two more teeth removed and many more fillings as when my baby teeth move and fall out so do the fillings, today i just had a glass ionomer filling and an amalgam filling and i was told one of my back teeth may need removing within a year but hopefully my teeth will improve

I may be getting my teeth sorted and whitened when im 15 or 16 and hopefully that will make them look nicer and Ill be able to smile

Hello mwoody 13 is young to be posting on here!

OP my DD1 has this. She also wasn't ill when a baby and didn't have antibiotics and I don't remember being ill when pg either. I've put it down to "one of those things" but it is upsetting esp when you don't know what the outcome will be - whether it will be mild or more serious like some of the posters on this thread.

My DD is 7 as well and 3 of her molars have it, one has been filled already and they say the aim at this point is to preserve them as long as they can til the adult teeth are all coming in so as to make sure they all grow in OK and don't get all spaced out. She has patches on her adult teeth that have come through as well that seems to be more disclouring at the moment and hopefully not too serious. Our advice also has been adult toothpaste and careful brushing, not too much sweet stuff and now she has the filling no chewy sweets at all - no haribo - but she is being very good and remembers herself.

I think this is probably quite common TBH and like I say there's no reason for DD to have it - no illness, no-one else in family etc etc

HTH

My dd has the exact same thing.
I was initially blamed by the dentist.She would not believe me that she didn't have fizzy drinks,or even squash.
I fely awful because she did have some sweets and orange juice.
I was really relieved when another dentist (doing extractions for her) said it wasn't my fault or her fault and it happened in the womb.

I am careful what she eats -sweets are very limited and particular types avoided altogether.She is great at dental hygiene.

I'm not sure what the long term treatment will be,particularly when it comes to discolouration.I'm hoping orthodontist treatment will be on the nhs (they're crooked because of early extractions).One thing I have noticed is that she seems to get fewer problems at present and she's getting more and more adult teeth.
I'm hoping her adult teeth might be stronger.

I even got a real slating on here in a sweet/teeth related thread once.
Some people really won't accept its nothing you have or haven't done

One of DD's baby molars came through with no enamel. She had to have it painted. That one is now fine, dentist was pleased.

Unfortunately her two front adult teeth have come through without enamel too. :( she's having them painted next month.

Dentist was reassuring that it was just bad luck, he quizzed DH about their diet and stuff and was happy with it.

Very interesting about the possible coeliac link - DH and DSD have it. And actually I remember DSD having problems with her teeth when she was little too.

The rest of DD's teeth are absolutely fine BTW it's just those 3. Really weird. DS' are fine too.

ds has the same issue with his first adult molars. He gets a high fluoride toothpaste prescribed. We think it was caused by him having chicken pox at 6 months old when the teeth were developing.