My daughter has two teeth, one white and one yellow. The yellow one came out a week ago and at first I wasn't sure (thought it might just be my imagination, or the fact it wasn't out as far as her other tooth making it look less bright etc) but I finally managed to get a good look today and confirm it.
She's 6 months old, near-exclusively bottle fed (starting to experiment with the odd stub of asparagus from our plates, but not being given any baby cereals, pureed veg etc) and the tooth in question only appeared a week ago, so I'm having a hard time imagining that it's plaque buildup... don't really know what else it might be though.
We've just bought her a toothbrush and will start using it - how long should I wait to see an improvement before taking her to the dentist to have a look?
Should I just pick any normal dentist in our town, or are there dentists [ideally in the greater Glarnerland area] who specialize in teeth of people too young to say "ahh" on demand?
(Can tooth stuff really be classed as congenital?? I mean, if so I'd think every second kid in the country would have their braces covered by it.)
Perhaps. I don't know how much normal variation there is. It's yellower than mine though and I'm a 30-something inveterate tea/coffee drinker with poor flossing habits.
My usual algorithm - look across at her twin brother, assume anything that they're both doing must be normal - is failing me here as he refuses to produce even a single tooth for comparison.
Probably not a lot to be done, as it is a milk tooth, if there was no trauma (abcess).
I've had two milk teeth discolorations in older toddlers due to falling/accident, and as long as there was no abcess the dentist said they could do nothing for milk teeth and it would not effect the permanent teeth later on.
Such a discoloration can have many causes, the most frequent being a little hematoma inside the tooth during birth or briefly thereafter. The crowns of the teeth she's getting now were already being built back then. Usually harmless, just a concern for grand-parents and well-meaning neighbors. Standard entry in the dental records of such patients after first examination: " Beruhigung der aufgescheuchten Mutter. "
IV ( Invalidenversicherung ) does cover such things if they may affect the future of the dentition, but that's hardly ever the case. Usually it's not worth the hassle of going through the whole procedure. However, if the case turns out to be worth a therapy later on, the whole application ritual can be done any time before the age of 21, so there is some elbow room.
The only dentist in our area whom I know to do practically exclusively kiddie stuff, on the eastern side of the Walensee anyway, is Yolanda Stauffacher in Sargans, 081 723 36 95. Don't know about the Sapsago jungle, though; that's foreign territory. Rumor has it there be ogres and dragons down there. Call Yolanda and ask her or her staff what to do.
Just a suggestion that I found useful when I had infants: my pediatric dentist recommended that when the baby only had a few erupted milk teeth in the front, rather than try to deal with getting a brush inside that tiny mouth, use a clean, wet baby washcloth (terrycloth) to gently clean the teeth by rubbing them with your thumb and forefinger.
Was she or you, while you were pregnant or breastfeeding, ever on any antibiotics? Certain antibiotics have been known to cause tooth discoloration, even baby teeth that haven't yet erupted.
That applied mainly to tetracycline, which, for that reason, hasn't been used in such situations since the 1960. It's very rare with other antibiotics but not totally impossible. But if one tooth is discolored while its contralateral sibling isn't, it's unlikely that an antibiotic was the cause, because that affects all teeth that are "under construction" during the medication.
Captain Greybeard is absolutely correct - tetracycline is a known source of teeth discoloration in toddlers/children and for that reason is not prescribed to them until they turn 12. There are other antibiotics that cause discoloration/stains (for example, amoxicillin). If the source of discoloration is indeed antibiotics, there is very high probability that the stain will disappear after the course of antibiotics is complete.
Antibiotics though is a fairly low probability diagnosis for a child that young, given that pediatricians are well aware of the effect (plus the parent did not mention the child being on antibiotics). It is more likely to be a plague buildup - at least that is what we regularly see with toddlers, given that parents hardly pay attention to dental hygiene this early. A simple polishing will remove the plague quickly and painlessly.
She's not on antibiotics and hasn't been. I briefly was during pregnancy (late 2nd trimester), don't know which ones.
As for plaque buildup, the tooth has been this color ever since it emerged, which was 2 weeks ago. If dental hygiene were the problem I really think we'd see plaque on her other tooth as well, given that that one's been out for several weeks longer. I'm not a hygienist though....
I'll let you guys know what the pediatrician / dentist have to say. (Captain Greybeard's answer reassured me sufficiently to put it off until the upcoming school break.)