A child’s innocent and beautiful smile renders one of the greatest joys to the parents. However, sometimes your kiddo’s pearly whites may become yellow or other kinds of discolouration may happen, and this may affect your child’s beautiful smile. There is no need to worry as you can adopt various measures to improve your child’s teeth colour. If your kid’s teeth discolouration is giving to sleepless nights, you should stop worrying as in the following article we shall talk about causes, treatment and various preventive that you can take to improve your kid’s yellow or other discolouration of teeth.
Before we move ahead with the article, we should understand what exactly tooth discolouration is. Well, tooth discolouration may happen when the natural pearly white or ivory white colour of your kid’s teeth changes. Tooth discolouration can be of two types- external discolouration and internal discolouration. Where external discolouration may be temporary and may occur due to certain medication, food items etc., on the other hand, internal discolouration may happen mostly due to underlying medical conditions such as metabolic disorder, enamel hypoplasia etc.
If you are wondering why are my child’s teeth yellow, then the following causes may help you understand it better.
Your child may have dental decay or cavity due to the activity of the bacteria on the leftover food particles in your kid’s mouth. This may cause discolouration.
If your kid does not follow proper oral hygiene and does not brush his teeth properly, it may lead to the formation of plague and thus change in the colour of the teeth may happen.
Excessive fluoride in your kid’s formula milk or toothpaste may lead to too much fluoride in your child’s mouth. Excess amounts of fluoride may result in a condition that may result in white streaks or patches on your kid’s teeth.
Some kinds of illnesses or ailments such as hepatitis, recurrent high fever etc. may lead to tooth discolouration in kids.
Sometimes babies who may get affected with severe jaundice after birth may have yellow or green tinted teeth as they grow up and start teething.
Sometimes injury to the teeth may lead to tooth discolouration too. This may happen because the blood vessels may break and the blood may affect the tooth enamel.
The use of certain medications during pregnancy such as tetracycline, which is used to treat UTI, may lead to discolouration of the baby’s teeth.
This is a genetic condition in which either the enamel coating is missing from the teeth, or it is very thin. This may lead to discolouration.
The above-mentioned are some of the common causes of tooth discolouration in kids.
Though teeth discolouration may be very evident by looking at your kid’s teeth, however, following signs may help you in establishing if your kid is suffering from any kind of teeth discolouration
If you are thinking about how to whiten your kid’s teeth, following treatment options may prove to be beneficial
There are many treatment options available to treat tooth discolouration. However, it is better than you adopt preventive measures beforehand to keep any tooth discolouration at bay
Following are some frequently asked questions reading tooth discolouration in toddlers and kids that most parents may like to know
There are many over the counter teeth whitening and bleaching products available in the market. However, you should not use such products for your kid. This is because if your kid still has temporary teeth, then there is no need to worry as they soon will get replaced by permanent. On the other hand, if your kid already has permanent teeth, then it is not possible to change the teeth colour. Because once the enamel gets damaged, it is difficult to get it fixed. Moreover, OTC products mostly contain peroxide, which may do more harm than good to your child.
As soon as you register any sign of tooth discolouration in your kid, it is suggested that you see your doctor. This is because, before you take any measure to treat tooth discolouration, it is important to establish the cause for the same and that only your doctor may be able to establish.
It is important to follow good oral hygiene for your child and in any yellow, or any other kind of discolouration is observed, seek professional help.