Roughly four months ago, my 20-month-old son fell and bumped his mouth and hit his upper four front teeth on the coffee table. His teeth seemed to be okay until recently, when I noticed that they started turning a funny shade of green and the enamel seems to be wearing off. I’ve always raised my children to be healthy, in fact I avoid giving them bottles or pacifiers, and they consistently take multi-vitamins and eat healthy foods. I dread the thought of having my son’s baby teeth pulled, but I may not have choice.
- Lauren from Houston
Lauren,
I’m sorry to hear about the bad fall your son took. Before jumping to conclusions about extracting your child’s baby teeth, you should make an appointment for him to see a pediatric dentist.
In your son’s case, he could have damaged and possibly severed the nerves to his teeth. If this is so, then these teeth would need to be removed. Hopefully this is not the situation though since he is at the age where his front teeth are needed to help support his speech development.
Another possibility that could be causing the discoloration in your son’s teeth is from exposure to bacteria. When children become exposed to bacteria, their immune systems will naturally fight off germs. In some cases though, children’s teeth can be affected and become discolored, which will naturally fade back to their normal shade in time.
It’s wonderful to hear how well you take care of your children, but if your son hasn’t had his first dental visit yet, then this would be a good time to make an appointment with a dentist. Introducing your children to the dentist at an early age is something we recommend at our practice since it helps to reduce dental anxiety.