Child's teeth greying

[simplemom]

My son's teeth recently started to have a grey tone to them. These are his permanent teeth toward the front, the back molars look fine, some of those in back have sealants. A few new things since we noticed the color change: he started taking iron supplement pills, we started vegetable juicing, and he had walking pneumonia a month ago. I thought it might be the iron supplements, but online I read discoloration is mainly a problem with liquid iron. My son takes his pill quickly so it doesn't sit in his mouth, plus I have him drink lots of water after the pill. Then I thought it was the carrot/beet juice, but I dilute the juice with water, have him drink it through a straw, have him drink water straight after the juice, and now have him brush his teeth shortly after drinking the juice. (Can you tell I'm obsessed with googling problems and solutions for this yet?). The antibiotic he took last month was a z-pack, and I don't see why a few days of that would have caused his teeth to discolor, plus that was several weeks ago.

 

We don't think he has celiac, but he is being retested for that in a couple weeks, since when the first test was taken I didn't know wheat had to be consumed daily on average vs. the few times/week my son was eating wheat at time of testing (that's a whole other story on another post). He isn't sick at all eating wheat daily, just more hyper. I read that celiac can produce dental enamel changes, which leads me to suspicion that nutrient malabsorption is causing the discoloration. I think I am being paranoid, but even my dh who isn't worried that ds had a slightly low iron level despite a diet rich in high iron foods and isn't worried that my son has celiac, is now concerned about the obvious greying of our son's permanent teeth. Our son was at the dentist the end of November, a week before the pneumonia, and got a wonderful report on his dental care then.

 

Am I missing something with what could be cause? Or do I need to just not be concerned? Please tell me it's something simple. :) TIA.

[QueenCat]

I would make an appt with the dentist, explaining why you need to come in early. I wouldn't risk the teeth getting worse even if I had to pay out of pocket for the visit.

[kbutton]

My son's baby teeth are graying a bit too, but no one else seems to notice. Drives me nuts. He has (in the past) been low in iron. We eat a healthy diet, though I have a hard time getting him to eat fat (he dislikes the taste of all fats). I am curious if others have more information. Asking traditional health practitioners in our area always seems to be a losing battle with these types of questions.

[SarahW]

My son's teeth have gray areas. Last time we were at the dentist they polished pretty much all of it off. They said they didn't know what it was.

 

A few months later the gray was back, and at the first appointment with our new pediatrician she immediately noticed that it was iron deposits.

 

My son does not take liquid irons. Nor drink veggie juice. The Ped said to take him off his multi-gummi, but that didn't make a difference (it didn't contain iron anyways). I had been cooking bacon in a cast iron pan, and we do eat a greater-than-average amount of red meat (my iron dropped low when I was pregnant). So I guess it just builds up for some reason.

 

Brushing with baking soda is supposed to help. But getting a 7-yo to do that involves pinning him down to the floor.

 

 

[redsquirrel]

my son had a grey tooth. The dentist said it was from a bump, like a bruise to the tooth. He said it wasn't going to change back but it was a baby tooth so it would fall out. We never saw the bump and he was a toddler and couldn't tell us anything reliable.

 

My niece had the same thing. We saw her bump her face and then her top teeth turned grey. It started at least a week later and it was a slow process. She still has them years later, but she is four and they should fall out soon.

 

My son took iron and it did colour his teeth but that was in the form of actual bumps on his teeth. Again, the dentist was able to tell us what it was. He was quite confident that it would come off with polishing or the dental pic but those bumps would not come off for anything. It looked like a little brown bump adhered to his tooth. It was rather dark. I always thought he had like a brown sesame seed stuck to his tooth.

[Susan C.]

My teeth are grayish... it is from taking antibiotics while they were forming. In my case it was tetracycline.

[simplemom]

I would make an appt with the dentist, explaining why you need to come in early. I wouldn't risk the teeth getting worse even if I had to pay out of pocket for the visit.

I am leaning toward doing this next week. We have a nice, thorough family dentist that my husband saw many years prior to us marrying and having children. The dentist would be glad to look at his teeth. It's just that I don't want to take ds if not needed (the office is 30 minutes away), as I tend to be overly cautious and have gone to the dentist for my own ailments before and it turned out to be nothing.

[simplemom]

My son's baby teeth are graying a bit too, but no one else seems to notice. Drives me nuts. He has (in the past) been low in iron. We eat a healthy diet, though I have a hard time getting him to eat fat (he dislikes the taste of all fats). I am curious if others have more information. Asking traditional health practitioners in our area always seems to be a losing battle with these types of questions.

The last line of this post is precisely why I am asking here first before asking the dentist or doctor. I get more insight into these type abnormal issues from other parents than I do when I ask a dentist or doctor something that's out of the scope and sequence of their textbook training!

[kbutton]

So if it could be iron deposits, can it be from not absorbing iron properly? We do eat a lot of red meat and iron containing foods, but my son has always tended to be anemic, not overstocked on iron (could have changed, I suppose). He's super skinny too, in spite of eating a healthy amount of food (not huge amounts, but not starvation rations either).

[Cera]

Excessive fluoride can discolor teeth though I'm not sure if it can turn them gray.  Has he ben swallowing toothpaste or mouthwash?

[simplemom]

To my knowledge, he has not been swallowing his toothpaste, he doesn't use mouthwash. The iron deposit theory is new to me, but it makes sense. Not sure if it would be because he was loosing iron or getting too much iron from the supplements, if that's what it is. I asked my husband look at his teeth again tonight since he is more objective than me, and dh still thinks they are grayish. We will at least put a call into the dentist next week and ask if it could be too low or high iron. The dentist isn't in his office till Wednesday though.

 

SarahW, I did brush with baking soda + toothpaste a few days ago. It helped a little, but you were right that compliance was difficult. Next day, grey was back. Hopefully, it will polish off with cleanings since it did help some for that day.

 

Kbutton, my son eats a ton, is also skinny, and either stays around the same weight, or has lost and regained some with health ups and downs the past year. I don't understand how he stays so skinny, his sister eats the same things as him, mostly whole foods with some treats a few times/week, and she is about to catch up to him in weight.

[El...]

I remember being told that a certain antibiotic could cause tooth discoloration; now I'm trying to remember which one it was.  It was in reference to the liquid kids' form of the antibiotic. 

[redsquirrel]

Tetracycline. I thought they didn't give that to children and pregnant women unless there was no other choice?

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

What about iron in your water? Do you have well water, or is your public water tested regularly? 

 

[mytwomonkeys]

I remember being told that a certain antibiotic could cause tooth discoloration; now I'm trying to remember which one it was. It was in reference to the liquid kids' form of the antibiotic.

Yes.

 

My son's teeth were messed up as a toddler due to antibiotic abuse. His permanent teeth grew in healthy & beautifully - thank God. We all take cod liver oil to help. We also brush with a mix of baking soda & bentonite clay. We also do oil pulling with coconut oil. His teeth are white, strong, and zero issues now. :)

[momacacia]

Do you cook often with cast iron?

[simplemom]

Do you cook often with cast iron?[/quote

 

]Maybe once/week. From reading these replies, I am guessing it's the iron supplements he started taking recently.

 

He did have an antibiotic last month, but thankfully it wasn't tetracycline.

 

Thanks everyone.

[simplemom]

Update, I called the dentist office the week after this post and the assistant didn't think the iron pill would cause the greying (the liquid iron definitely does though). She said I could try brushing with baking soda added to the toothpaste some. The baking soda helped, but the greying came back within a day. My son had his follow up visit for lab work at the MD office today. The MD said it was the iron side effect and won't be permanent.