White spots on baby teeth in a child: why do they appear on the enamel in children

Many parents sooner or later wonder why white spots form on their child’s front and chewing teeth. This phenomenon can occur for many reasons, so it is important to consult a doctor as soon as possible to identify them and then prescribe effective treatment.

If the problem is not associated with a pathological process and is just an aesthetic defect, you can cope with it by following the dentist’s recommendations at home. When the situation is advanced, serious dental intervention in the clinic using a drill and filling cavities cannot be avoided.

It is better to prevent pigmentation from occurring, because the problem is much easier to prevent than to treat. Experts have developed a set of recommendations that help prevent the appearance of whitish spots.

White spots on baby teeth in an infant and older child

This is an alarming symptom that requires urgent consultation with a pediatric dentist. Some parents mistakenly believe that there is no need to treat the first teeth, because they will soon fall out and be replaced by permanent ones. This is a misconception that can cost your oral health.

Whitening of areas indicates their demineralization. If urgent measures are not taken, the unit may simply fall out or split into several fragments. As a result, the rudiments of new incisors, canines and molars are damaged. You won't be able to deal with this on your own. For treatment, therapeutic tactics are developed together with an experienced specialist in the field of pediatric dentistry.

White spots on molars

This phenomenon occurs much less frequently than in the case of dairy rows. The process is often observed when installing a bracket system. The problem is provoked by an unbalanced, irregular diet, insufficient consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits, and milk. If this is really the root cause, it is enough to change the diet or reinstall the corrective orthodontic structure.

In adolescence, whitened areas often indicate the onset of caries development. If you contact a dental clinic in a timely manner, you will not need drilling of the affected tissue, filling or cleaning of canals after forced removal of the nerve.

Treatment of dental discoloration

Before starting treatment, our specialists carry out sanitation of the oral cavity, if dental diseases have been identified, and professional hygienic teeth cleaning. In this way, they eliminate the risk of developing infectious diseases and achieve the best results. The main methods used for treatment are presented in our table:

Causes of white spots on a child’s teeth

The problem can arise due to many factors. The most common of them:

1. Hypoplasia. This is severe thinning, partial or complete absence of enamel.
2. Caries. A natural result of poor quality care and untimely visit to the dentist for preventive purposes.
3. Fluorosis. This term refers to an excessive concentration of fluoride in a child’s body.
4. Wearing orthodontic appliances. Hygiene is difficult, so carious lesions often occur.
5. Injury (including dairy rows).
6. Decreased immune defense, frequent colds, viral infections.
7. Failure to comply with simple hygiene requirements.

It is worth dwelling on each of the reasons for the occurrence of white spots on teeth in infants and children of an older age category.

Enamel hypoplasia

This is a congenital non-carious pathology of dental units, when a complete or partial absence of the enamel layer is diagnosed. The appearance of incisors, canines and molars changes significantly. Not only whitish areas appear on them, but also grooves and depressions.

The disease is associated with the abnormal structure of hard tissues. It is often accompanied by carious lesions, increased sensitivity to hot and cold foods, sour and sweet foods.

The anomaly originates during the period of intrauterine development or under the influence of external factors. Most often the problem is provoked by:

• Rh conflict between mother and fetus;
• infections suffered by a pregnant woman;
• late gestosis, premature delivery, birth injuries;
• poor nutrition of the expectant mother, taking prohibited medications;
• traumatic effects on the baby’s maxillofacial area;
• endocrine disorders;
• diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, nervous and urinary systems.

Caries

If white spots appear on a child’s teeth, mom and dad most often do not even suspect the presence of carious lesions. The sooner the problem is diagnosed, the faster and easier it will be solved. In the earliest stages, it is often possible to avoid drilling with a drill, which is extremely important when treating small patients. In this case, remineralization or fluoridation is used.

If you do not intervene in time, the enamel will become even thinner, softer and begin to collapse. You can feel the rough surface to the touch.

The spots remain whitish for a short time, they darken. At the same time, infectious agents penetrate into the deepest layers of the crown and root, causing more serious dental diseases that are difficult to treat.

Excess or lack of fluoride

Excessive concentration of the substance in the body is called fluorosis. It reaches a small person through drinking (in some regions the water supply contains excessively fluoridated water), food (seafood), pastes, medicines and polluted industrial air.

Growing teeth are most susceptible to damage, so the problem is more often detected in children. Children with weak immunity and chronic pathologies are especially vulnerable.

Not only excess, but also deficiency of fluoride can provoke a number of dental disorders. Low fluoride content leads to caries and gum disease.

Braces and the consequences of wearing braces

White spots on a child’s permanent (molar) teeth (photos can be found on the Internet) are also observed when orthodontic appliances are installed. This is primarily due to insufficient hygienic care of the oral cavity. In children wearing braces, a layer of plaque accumulates, and the enamel may become lighter.

During the correction period, it is important to take good care of your incisors, canines and molars. It is worth cleaning them at least 2 times a day, morning and evening. You need to give up sweets, confectionery, and sour foods. All this leads to pigmentation.

Injuries

Any mechanical impact threatens damage to the enamel, because this layer is naturally quite thin and fragile, especially in young patients. Whitish spots appear on damaged areas as a response to injury.

In modern dentistry, there are cases where blows and falls in childhood led to the appearance of light pigments in adulthood on permanent units.

Damaged rows not only look unsightly, but can also collapse.

Weakened immunity

Numerous medical studies have shown that children, who are most susceptible to colds and viral infections, suffer from mineral deficiencies and inadequate immune defenses. As a result, white spots (stripes, chalky zones) form on the teeth of a one-year-old child.

Special pastes and traditional therapy, of course, can help in the initial stages. However, first of all, it is recommended to visit a dentist to identify the causes of the symptom and prescribe effective comprehensive treatment.

Abuse of bleaching products and procedures

In patients who abuse such manipulations and regularly use whitening compounds, certain areas of the enamel often become lighter. It does not matter who performs the procedure, a professional dentist at a high price or a loving parent at home.

Such incisors, canines and molars look unaesthetic. For this reason, most doctors note the need for subsequent remineralization. With its help, you can not only make your teeth aesthetically attractive, but also strengthen your enamel.

Poor hygiene

Even the youngest patients know that poor quality care leads to a host of dental problems. Children wearing braces especially suffer from this.

As soon as the baby's first central incisor erupts, you can buy a special finger brush and brush your teeth 2 times a day. However, even if teething is still very far away, you still need to take care of your oral cavity. To do this, you can wipe your gums with a piece of gauze or clean cotton cloth soaked in boiled water or herbal decoction.

Types and clinical manifestations of dental pigmentation

According to the etiological factors, two groups of discoloration are distinguished:

• Endogenous – caused by the influence of internal factors (diseases, tetracycline intake);
• Exogenous – caused by external factors (exposure to dyes, traumatic injuries).

The symptoms of pigmentation are difficult to confuse with any other:

• Loss of tooth enamel of its natural transparency and shine;
• The appearance of anatomical grooves on it;
• The appearance of white, yellow, brown or black spots on it;
• Its color is pinkish, yellow or gray.

The diameter of the spots can vary: from small dots on the enamel to changes in the color of the entire tooth. Discoloration is often accompanied by halitosis, bleeding and soreness of the gum tissue, and tooth mobility. They talk about the development of periodontal tissue diseases. Specific manifestations and the speed of their appearance depend on the general condition of the patient’s body, as well as the causes of the pathology:

• With hemolytic disease, tooth enamel and dentin look grayish-blue, green or brown, the enamel structure is damaged, there are signs of hypoplasia (partial/complete absence of enamel);
• Taking tetracycline antibiotics is accompanied by a gray-yellow coloration, the intensity of which depends on the total volume of the drug taken. Possible combination with hypoplasia;
• Erythropoietic uroporphyria is characterized by red staining of the enamel, hair loss, and increased sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation.

As for discoloration due to exposure to food pigments, the change in enamel color directly depends on what kind of food it was stained with.

Is it possible to fix the problem at home?

Therapeutic tactics depend on the causes of the disease. If the problem is unsuitable water, it is enough to replace it with bottled water or install special filters in the house that remove fluoride from the liquid. The same goes for toothpastes and medications. It is important to avoid fluoride-containing foods.

When a child has grown teeth with white spots, you need to introduce foods rich in calcium and vitamins into his diet. For example, you should eat more vegetables, cheese, and drink milk.

Often the provoking factor is insufficient oral hygiene. Parents must teach their son or daughter how to properly perform hygiene procedures. Any available and effective teaching methods will do. Currently, there are many educational cartoons and programs that will help you learn all the intricacies of regular cleaning in a playful way.

Types of stains

If a child has multiple white dots on his teeth, this is speckled damage to the enamel. It can be localized on single teeth or be multiple in nature, even affecting almost all teeth [1]. Typically, global damage to tooth enamel indicates an unfavorable history during pregnancy or in the first year of a child’s life.

The stains themselves lie at different depths of the tooth tissue. In some cases, the enamel in the area of ​​the stain has a changed, more porous and rough structure, which requires dental restoration of its integrity, since such enamel cannot adequately resist caries, and it develops 2.5 times more often [2]. If changes have occurred in the subsurface layers of enamel, white spots on a child’s baby teeth will not change the quality of their protective layer.

The spots can be either almost imperceptible - weakly expressed, or differ from the main color by several tones. Bright and clearly visible on permanent teeth, they represent a serious aesthetic defect that will accompany the child throughout his life if he does not use the services of aesthetic dentistry.

The intensity of the spots depends on:

• causes;
• degree of disease;
• tones of the natural color of tooth enamel.

Traditional methods of treatment

Adherents of “grandmother’s” methods should resort to them only in cases where the contrasting white spots on the child’s teeth are purely a cosmetic defect and the doctor gives instructions for treatment at home. For example, you can rinse your mouth with a weak solution of table vinegar (2 teaspoons of the substance per 1 spoon of salt and a glass of clean boiled water). This way you can get rid of plaque and restore the balance of minerals. The only disadvantage of this product is that the baby may swallow it out of curiosity or accidentally, so this method is recommended for older children.

There is also a safer strengthening composition for enamel. We are talking about green tea. It contains flavonoids, as well as gallic and chlorogenic acids. With regular drinking of the drink, pigmentation will completely disappear. In addition, the condition of the mucous membranes in the mouth will significantly improve.

How to get rid of white spots on teeth

First of all, it is important to consult a doctor to find out the causes of the unpleasant symptom. The pediatric dentist will determine what caused the whitish formations on the teeth, select effective therapeutic methods, and give recommendations for high-quality hygienic care and prevention.

If a carious lesion is detected at the initial stage, no serious intervention is required. In most cases, it is sufficient to use silvering (on primary occlusion), remineralization or ozonation (in the presence of permanent rows). The baby must be taught proper hygiene.

When caries is deep and painful, you cannot avoid using a drill and installing filling material. When the pathological process is advanced, depulpation and even extraction (removal) are indicated.

If an excess of fluoride is detected in a child’s body, the doctor will advise using a paste that does not contain this component. Remineralization is also indicated.

When tooth surfaces become white due to braces or other orthodontic structures, complex treatment is carried out, which includes:

• elimination of carious cavities;
• disinfection;
• replacement of simulators with new ones;
• regular dental monitoring;
• professional cleaning of food debris and accumulated plaque.

Pathogenesis of discoloration and its complications

In order to understand how this pathological condition develops, you need to consider the anatomical structure of the tooth. Its hard main part consists of dentin, which forms its crown and root: the first is covered with white enamel, the second is separated by cement. Being the hardest and most durable layer, enamel provides protection to the entire tooth. Inside it there is connective tissue that contains nerve endings and blood vessels. It is called pulp.

The natural color of teeth is determined by the thickness and transparency of tooth enamel, dentin and pulp. Due to their unequal location in the height of the crown, it varies from the edge to the cervical region. The basis of enamel and dentin are crystals of the mineral hydroxylapatite. When certain disorders occur in the tooth or the body as a whole, they are prone to deformation and staining. For this reason, the color acquired under their influence will depend on the initiating factor.

It is worth noting that discoloration is not just an aesthetic defect, but a sign that pathological processes are occurring in the body. In itself, it does not pose a threat to health, but it should not be ignored, since in a neglected state it will lead to:

• thinning of tooth enamel and deterioration of its protective characteristics;
• the appearance of psychological discomfort, difficulties in communication.

Thin tooth enamel will allow infectious agents to pass through and will also contribute to the development of caries. This problem is especially relevant in childhood, because it does not disappear with the loss of milk units. Because affected teeth fall out earlier, severe malocclusions may develop that will require treatment.

Prevention of the problem

To prevent the appearance of white spots on the enamel of teeth in children, you need to follow simple preventive recommendations:

• Take your child to the dentist at least twice a year. If you have a predisposition to caries or a malocclusion has been diagnosed, it is recommended to do this more often, approximately every quarter.
• Monitor the quality of care for dental units and the oral cavity as a whole.
• Watch your diet. Nutrition should be complete, varied, balanced. It is important to include products of both plant and animal origin in the menu.
• It is necessary to reduce the consumption of confectionery products, sweet soda, and baked goods.
• Give your baby multivitamins and mineral complexes after illnesses and during periods of active growth and development (strictly in consultation with the doctor).
• Stick to a diet during pregnancy. It is worth including more dairy products and plant foods in your diet.
• Do not use tetracycline during the gestational process, as this substance has a detrimental effect on the enamel.
• Treat all diseases in a timely manner, preventing them from becoming chronic.
• Carry out oral care after the appearance of the first incisor.
• Preschoolers under 4 years old should not buy pastes with fluoride; monitor the level of the element in tap water.
• Listen to the opinion of specialists and avoid self-treatment.

Prevention of dental plaque in children

Prevention of dental diseases should begin with the appearance of the first milk teeth. The following recommendations must be followed:

• brush the newborn’s teeth from the moment of teething using a special silicone fingertip;

• by the age of 2-3 years, accustom the child to cleaning the oral cavity independently in the morning and evening;
• change your baby’s toothbrush every month, buy hygiene products intended for children of the appropriate age;
• Bring your child for a preventive examination to the dentist every 4 months, even if there is no plaque or other symptoms;
• limit the consumption of sweets, include healthy foods without fast carbohydrates and with minerals in the children's menu.

The baby may also be bothered by other symptoms that he cannot tell an adult about. Therefore, bring him for examination, regardless of what color plaque has formed on his teeth.

Let's sum it up

White spots on growing children's teeth do not always indicate the presence of a pathological process. Despite the positive statistics, you should not do anything on your own or self-medicate without consulting a doctor. You cannot delay a visit to the dental clinic, because it is much easier to get rid of the problem at the initial stage than in advanced cases associated with deep damage.

Sometimes light spots on the enamel indicate serious systemic pathologies, and a simple examination by a dentist will not be enough. Additional tests and advice from specialists will be needed.

By following preventive rules, you can prevent the appearance of light spots. It is important to teach your child to regularly care for his mouth and periodically show him to the dentist.

Why good oral hygiene is important

You need to brush your teeth twice a day with a properly selected toothpaste and brush, and floss after each meal. Why do white spots appear on teeth even when hygiene rules are followed?

Sometimes the cause of thinning enamel is the constant use of highly abrasive toothpastes. There are patients who try to use “grandmother’s” cleaning recipes, not taking into account their traumatic nature for the enamel. In this case, the hygienic procedure will only speed up the transformation of a small spot on the tooth into a full-fledged carious area.

Using a standard toothbrush on your own cannot remove all microparticles of food or remove pathogenic microflora. Therefore, regular professional cleaning using special equipment in the clinic is necessary.