Yellowish, brown or white spots on the teeth - what are they talking about?

Spots on the tooth enamel - both white and dark, can be found in adults and children. Their appearance suggests hypoplasia of tooth enamel or beginning caries, and also can be a consequence of fluorosis, a disease caused by excess fluoride in the body.

White spots on the teeth in an infant may appear due to hypoplasia - underdevelopment of tooth enamel. This defect is laid even at the stage of embryo formation. It can be caused by various adverse factors affecting the fetus. Thus, white spots on the teeth of the baby can appear in cases when his mother is sick with chronic gastritis, duodenitis or enterocolitis, during pregnancy suffered from severe toxicosis or suffered infectious diseases. Hypoplasia can, in addition, be in the form of grooves, single or multiple.

The foci of demineralization of teeth with the so-called pre-caries also initially have the appearance of white spots. In this case, a small spot appears on a small, small area of the enamel, which gradually increases in size. Soon it acquires a yellowish, and then a brown color - at this stage it is already said about caries. White patches on teeth caused by demineralization in children are usually covered with a special composition - "silver". This is done in order to prevent the development of caries in areas with destroyed enamel.

Avoid cavities in the child will help to maintain oral hygiene. So, dentists advise you to wipe the first teeth of your baby after eating, especially if he is on artificial or mixed feeding. Some companies specializing in products for children have mastered the production of special soft fingertips to care for the oral cavity of the infant, but for this you can use a piece of gauze, wrapping it around your finger. One-year-old baby can already be accustomed to a toothbrush. Pasta is best to start to use when he has already learned how to rinse your mouth well.

White spots on teeth in children and adults can also be associated with excessive fluoride content in drinking water and food products in their locality (endemic fluorosis). At its mildest, dashed shape, the defects of the enamel look like shallow strips on the frontal teeth, with spotty - small petiolate or yellowish spots. With a melovid-speckled, heavier form of fluorosis, not only white, but yellowish, and even brown spots on the teeth can take place. Fluorosis in recent years has become, unfortunately, quite common: for a period of less than 20 years the number of patients with this disease has increased 8 times! At the same time, in half of the patients, dentists diagnosed a spotted form, while in a third they had a meridian-mottled shape.

Aesthetic deficiencies of teeth in fluorosis are eliminated in the same way as in caries, but the treatment in this case occurs practically only at the level of enamel. The patient is placed neat decorative seals in the color of the crown of the tooth, so that its surface looks homogeneous. Of course, we are talking only about permanent teeth: thus eliminating the aesthetic disadvantages of milk teeth simply does not make sense. However, the fight against fluorosis is not limited to this: it is necessary, if possible, to exclude the use of local drinking water and fluorine-rich foods (sea fish, walnuts, spinach).

Having found out the child's white spots on the teeth or even a single spot, it is necessary to show it to the dentist: caries in babies develops very quickly. Despite the widespread belief that treating the teeth of the teeth to anything, since they will still fall out, the carious tooth is a danger to the child. He not only can cause severe pain, but also is a source of infection: the presence of caries can lead to other diseases, in particular, to angina. To distinguish the beginning caries from hypoplasia or fluorosis, only a specialist can. The spots on the tooth enamel in each of them have their own characteristic picture, and for consultation on the choice of the right methods of treatment, the dentist must consult.